


Forever

by smolgreennerd



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergent, Deals with Memory loss, Domestic and Adventure, F/M, Fluff, Follows "Five Teenagers" ages, I cried a lot writing this, M/M, Multi, Post-Kerberos, Rating may change later for a chapter or two idk, Some swearing and vulgar language, and a comic, and regaining memories, enjoy?, pre-kerberos, real tears, there is a lot of fanart to go with it, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smolgreennerd/pseuds/smolgreennerd
Summary: The Paladins of Voltron had been through a lot together - some more than others. But only a few were fully aware of just how much their lives intertwined. Shiro, as a result of his capture and torture by the Galra, had forgotten a very important part of his past, and Pidge, Keith, and Matt are unsure about how to help him regain his memories... though part of the Green Paladin would prefer to let the past stay in the past.





	1. Chapter 1

Shiro had been fond of Pidge ever since he’d met her the night of his escape from the Galra, sure, but even before that. Hearing stories about her from Matt during their Garrison days and knowing how much his best friend’s little sister meant to him made her an amazing person in his book.

But it was different now. They’d been through so much the past three years. Yes, he was gone for over a year of it — stuck in the Astral Plane, trying to find his way back to a team that thought he was right there with them, though it was a clone controlled by their enemy. He remembered the day he stepped out of the cryochamber after his new family had saved him and gotten him safely back to the castle ship. Six faces beamed up at him. Keith, his best friend, practically his brother, the one he cared for the most in the world, caught him as he fell to his knees and let him down gently so he wouldn’t hurt himself. They all hugged him in turn and he looked around for the one left — the one whose smiling face occupied his dreams while he slept suspended in time, body healing in the magical pod.

Keith called for her, and as Allura and Coran stepped back, he could see Pidge at the controls of the med room, looking up from her rapid typing and meeting his eyes. She slid from the chair, tank top and knee-length spandex and no glasses, and hurried to him, dropping to her knees before him and throwing her arms around his neck. Surprised, he hugged her close and closed his eyes as his heartbeat picked up. He was startled by her actions, that had to be it. But Keith looked at them with a soft smile, and he looked at his friend curiously for a second before turning back to press his cheek against the side of Pidge’s head as she sniffled and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

That was a few months ago. Now, he stood watching over his team in the training deck, arms crossed as he offered pointers to Hunk and Lance as they sparred using no weapons but only their fists and feet. He’d tear his eyes away when Keith, taller and broader since he’d come back to the team with some more prominent Galran features, gave some suggestions as well for how the Blue and Yellow Paladins could use their body types to their advantage in the fight. Shiro nodded in agreement each time and urged Keith to give them the advice, but Keith insisted on Shiro helping out instead. He’d been gone, he was their leader, and they all needed to get used to the real Shiro leading again.

He peeked away from the boys to look in the corner of the room where their smallest teammate, Pidge, was twirling and stepping in a tuneless dance, eyes closed in concentration. She’d taken to doing so only recently, when she wasn’t directly training with the team. Shiro found it a welcome retreat to watch her serene, fluid movements instead of the crude punches thrown about while Lance and Hunk trained.

_“How long have you been dancing?”_ he wanted to ask her. Was it recent? Did she dance when she was younger? He didn’t recall Matt ever mentioning it. Maybe it wasn’t an important detail. But when he slept at night, between the nightmares that inevitably crept in, he sometimes had a brief, peaceful interlude wherein he was dancing, smiling from ear to ear, with a younger, happier Pidge, her hair flowing long behind her as she twirled between his arms and moved smoothly with him to music he couldn’t hear.

“You should offer to dance with her.”

He looked to his left. Matt, having just returned from his sparring match with Allura, grinned tiredly up at him. Shiro chuckled softly.

“I haven’t danced in years. Don’t wanna throw her off.”

“It hasn’t been THAT long,” Matt teased, folding his arms across his armored chest. Matt cringed when Hunk’s fist landed a hard punch across Lance’s padded shoulder. Lance staggered backward and let out an unattractive grunt. Shiro tore his eyes from the gliding Green Paladin to make sure his teammates were okay.

“Sorry, Lance, expected you to block that — you okay?” Hunk asked, breaking form and watching as Lance readjusted his padding.

“Yeah, m’fine. Keep going.”

Shiro looked back to Matt when he nudged his side and said, “She’d appreciate a partner.”

“It’s fine.” Shiro laughed softly, a little uncomfortable. He wanted to dance with her — badly — but there was something tugging at the back of his mind, some nagging feeling that something was off, that he always got when confronted with the idea of being close to Pidge, that prevented him from accepting the idea. “She’d probably be weirded out.”

 

* * *

 

 

“He’s been staring at you, you know.”

“Who?”

“Who do you think, dummy?”

Pidge glared over her laptop screen at Keith as he hovered over the workshop table, hood pressing against his face and making the new scar on his cheek stand out, glaringly obvious, against the black fabric. He didn’t wear a smirk as she’d expected, but an honest expression — his eyes pierced her own, his mouth rested in its default pout.

“So what?” She tore her eyes from her old friend’s and returned to the soft blue glow of her new laptop, typing away in Altean.

“So it means something,” Keith urged. He pulled his hands into his sleeves. “He may be remembering.”

“I won’t hold my breath.”

“Pidge, come on.”

“You come on. Aren’t you supposed to be heading out to meet your mother?”

“Not til tonight. Stop trying to get rid of me. Pidge, I mean it. Stop typing. Pidge.” He leaned across the table, grabbing her wrists around her laptop with either hand. “Katie. Stop.”

Pidge sighed and glared at him again. She sat up straight on her stool. “Drop it, Keith. I’m not in the mood. Lotor is coming in a few days to discuss our next moves, and Allura wanted me to compile all the Alliance data before then. On top of that, I have to train every day and do the stupid Voltron shows for Coran. I’m tired.”

He frowned, sliding back down the other side of the table, his hands retreating back into their sleeves. “You don’t care that there’s a possibility his memory’s coming back? Ask him about it.”

“No. He needs to come to ME when he’s ready. Besides, as much as I care, we don’t have time for that. Protecting and restoring peace to the universe is more important.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Drop it.”

Keith sighed, eyebrows furrowing til they almost formed a single line. He stood straight and tilted his head to the side. “Remember when we said we were gonna be friends again? Friends talk to each other about the shitty things bothering them.”

Pidge shrank back in her stool a bit, matching his expression but adding a bit of a pout to her own. With an unexpected tremble to her voice, she muttered, “I _will_ talk to you about it. I just honestly… I can’t handle it right now. Okay?”

Keith slowly nodded while sliding around the table. He pulled her into a one-armed embrace and Pidge’s face buried into the shoulder of his hoodie as she wrapped her right arm behind his back as well. She let out a defeated sniffle, but no tears to accompany it.

“Okay,” Keith said, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Get enough sleep while you’re working, okay? Matt can take over compiling data for a while if you need. Let him help. I’ll see you in about a week.”

“Stay safe. Say hi to Krolia for me.”

“I will. I’ll try to get her to come back with me.”

Keith pulled his arm back. He gave Pidge a meaningful look, his lips upturned only the slightest amount in a smile, but his eyes were sad for her. She looked away, not wanting the pity — she was fine, and he should know it.

“Get to work and get some rest. I’m gonna go say goodbye to the rest of the team.”

“Got it, captain.”

Pidge pulled herself back fully onto her stool, lifting her small frame into the air with her arms, and folded her legs tightly beneath her. She took in a deep breath, hunched over her laptop, and read over the screen once more before typing away rapidly.

She loved working on her laptop, especially now that it was fully upgraded and integrated with the castle. She could open extra screens — as many as she wanted — as holograms all around her and really get immersed in her work. It was easy to lose track of time that way, and lose track of everything else around her. Her teammates found it irksome at times, especially when Lance and Hunk wanted her to come and hang out with them. But she felt at peace. Watching the strings of Altean numbers flowing on one screen as she pulled and translated data being transmitted from around the peaceful planets, another screen filled with Alliance members’ profiles waiting for her to categorize them by color based on rank and role, let her push away any… unimportant other thoughts that might make their way into her head.

It was going to sleep at night that she didn’t like. When she escaped the others’ urging to hit the sack, she’d stay awake as long as possible, comfortably curled into a small corner of the castle. She would run scans on their surroundings, do research on new cultures they’d encountered, or brainstorm possible upgrades for the Castle, the Lions, or Lotor’s Galran ships until she fell asleep from exhaustion and didn’t have any chance to let her mind wander. But when they forced her into her bed, and sometimes even took her laptop away as assurance she’d get rest… that’s when the thoughts haunted her.

What if something had happened to Earth while they were too far away to contact her father at the Garrison with the communications setup she, Matt, and Hunk had built? What if her parents got hurt? What if, when Matt went away to help with other Alliance members instead of being by her side in the Green Lion, he got hurt, and she couldn’t save him again? What if one of her friends got hurt? What if the Galran Empire turned on them again?

Those thoughts troubled her enough. They kept her tossing and turning under her thick green covers in the night. But the thoughts she really wanted to escape were the ones of her past. The ones from before Voltron, even before she got accepted into the Garrison -— the ones she wanted to forget about so they wouldn’t tear at her when she least expected it.

She snapped from her trance, cursing herself only briefly for reflecting on such things during her work before she looked up into the gentle eyes of the Princess, whose hand upon her shoulder had woken her from her thoughts.

“Sorry, Pidge. I didn’t mean to startle you. How’s it coming?” Allura asked. She looked up and around at all the glowing blue screens Pidge had summoned subconsciously as she worked lost in thought.

“Alright. I’ve still got quite a few hours ahead of me, but I have a system. Color coordinated, of course.”

“Of course,” Allura said. Her lips curled up into a grin as she rolled her eyes. “Did Keith tell you goodbye? He’s heading out soon.”

Pidge nodded. Allura moved around the table to grab an extra stool, sliding it nearer to Pidge and pulling herself on top. Pidge continued typing, more slowly than when she worked alone, so she could still pay attention to her company.

“If I’m pestering you, just let me know,” Allura said.

“You’re fine. What’s up?”

“I’m just nervous,” Allura confessed quickly, tucking her hands tightly between the knees of her white sweatpants. “I haven’t seen Lotor in a few months. I know, it’s silly. He’s our ally, but —”

Pidge chuckled a little. Her hands paused on her keyboard long enough to tilt her head and give Allura a teasing grin. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Allura’s eyes darted to the side as a tint of red grew beneath her Altean markings. “Is it that obvious?”

“Well, aside from the fact that you all but told me last time he was here, yes — you get so worked up whenever he comes to the castle. Just keep your mind off it. You’ll be fine. We need to do business, anyway.”

Allura sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. You’re the only girl I’ve got to talk to about this and —”

“I don’t mind. Really. I just don’t want you to be stressed out.” Pidge gave her a softened smile, reaching a hand out to pat the Princess’s shoulder. Allura gave her a thankful, sheepish smile. It’d been a good year since they were able to talk comfortably as friends — not only about the happenings in the universe and the progress of Team Voltron but about personal things as well.

Pidge turned back to her screen and let out a small sigh again before stretching her fingers and returning to her laborious typing.

Allura remained quiet for a while, hands still tucked between her knees, shoulders hunched, as she tried to sink into her stool.

“How’s the storage on your laptop holding up?”

 

_Pidge slid into the control room late at night to find Allura standing on her podium as she flipped between frames on a giant holoscreen, the blue light reflected on her loose curls. She carried her laptop gently, careful to make just enough noise to alert Allura to her presence but not disturb her work._

_“Princess?” she asked, sliding her laptop onto the Green Paladin control pad. She hovered near her spot tentatively, lest Allura be in a mood and round on her. The Princess turned calmly, though, tired eyes meeting her, a soft smile overtaking her lips but not reaching her eyes._

_“What is it, Pidge?”_

_“I was wondering if you could help me with something.”_

_“Yes?”_

_“I… it’s my laptop. I’ve upgraded it a ton of times since coming out here, but it’s getting a little old and worn, and I’m worried that…I mean…the storage is nearly full. Is there anything I can use to back up my files with? Just in case?” Pidge looked up at her pleadingly, picking up her laptop and nudging it through the air as if offering it as sacrifice._

_Allura looked between her Paladin and the laptop, smile being replaced by pursed lips, her brows knitted in thought._

_“Well, the Castle Ship itself has an enormous storage. You could always back files up in this system. You should know that.”_

_“But would they be secure?”_

_“As secure as the rest of our information.”_

_Pidge lowered her eyes, inching a little closer to Allura. The princess looked at her curiously, puzzled by her hesitation, until Pidge quietly admitted, “Some of the things I want to back up are…personal. I don’t want the guys to see them.”_

_“Oh. Well. You could back up the other data and keep those on your computer.”_

_“That’s just it - I don’t want to lose them if the computer fails. We’re low on money and supplies right now so I won’t be able to buy material to upgrade for a little while and my laptop’s making REALLY sad noises, and —”_

_Allura stepped down from her podium, setting a comforting hand on Pidge’s shoulder. Pidge stopped talking abruptly and looked up at Allura with worry in her eyes._

_“How about you and I program some extra security in tonight so the others can’t access it - just you. Unless you don’t want me to see tonight, either. I understand.”_

_Pidge pursed her lips, lowering her laptop slightly and looking away, cheeks just slightly pink. She really…didn’t want Allura to see. But the extra help with the Castle Ship’s technology using Allura’s budding alchemy powers would certainly be helpful…_

_“I’d… like the help. The Castle’s still a big mystery to all of us and you can control it best, so it’d probably be a good idea for you to be there, even just in case.” Pidge looked up into the Princess’s eyes. Allura removed her hand from her shoulder and gave her a small smile._

_“I’m sure you could handle it just fine, Pidge. But I’m happy to help. Let’s get to work.”_

_Allura returned to her podium, dismissed the Alliance files she was reviewing, and pulled Pidge instead to the main panel that Coran typically manned. Pidge set her laptop down and hooked it up to the Castle’s system and they got to work immediately. Allura shooed away anyone who tried to enter the room throughout the night._

_They stayed up late, working on setting up a separate storage system specifically designed to house important Alliance and Voltron-related intel. Allura assigned a specific branch just for Pidge’s personal items behind extra securities. They talked only a little while they worked at first, about their project mostly, but over time Pidge asked Allura about her life on Altea. The girl, with saddened eyes but a fond, reminiscing smile, told Pidge quiet stories of her friends from her youth. She spoke about different games they’d play, Altean traditions, and holidays._

_When morning broke and they had slid down to the floor, exhausted and leaning against the control panel, they spoke more, mostly to stay awake while Pidge did her best to write code in clumsy Altean into the ship’s system, but also because, to both their surprise, they genuinely were enjoying the conversation._

_“I think we can start to transfer files now,” Pidge admitted. She stifled a yawn. “Just let me write in a few more things and double-check my work.”_

_“While you do that, I’m going to fix us some coffee. I’ll be back in a tick,” Allura said. She pulled herself roughly to her feet. Pidge nodded thankfully, her tongue dry and cottony from the long night of talking. She looked up at the holoscreen before her and scrolled through the coding she and Allura wrote. With a yawn she concentrated on fixing some things she’d misspelled and thinking of better ways to organize the strings._

_Allura came back shortly with coffee and some leftover wildberry muffins for breakfast. She sat on the floor next to Pidge and set a large cup of coffee beside her, split the stacked plates, and divided the small bite-sized treats between them. The Green Paladin thanked her eagerly and shoved one of Hunk’s special-recipe muffins into her mouth hungrily. Allura yawned as she lay her head back against the control panel and sipped her coffee._

_“Let me know when you want me to look away or leave so I don’t see your personal items,” Allura said, picking up a muffin and chewing slowly._

_Pidge eyed her and sipped her own coffee, cringing only slightly against the strong taste. She wondered if she should bother going to get milk. She just pulled her knees to her chest, though, and set down her cup to rest her chin on top of her knees. She looked down at her laptop as it transferred her work into the Castle Ship’s main system to find that the status bar dragged much more slowly than usual._

_She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. “Allura?” she asked barely above a whisper. “Can you keep a secret?”_

_Allura sat forward slightly when she heard the unease in Pidge’s voice. “Of course I can. What is it, Pidge? Are you okay?”_

_Pidge’s lips tucked in and her eyes lowered. Her shoulders rose just a bit in an unsure shrug. She reached for her coffee and took another long swig, setting it down when her laptop finished the upload. Reaching around her knees, she tapped away the tabs she no longer needed._

_“If you want… I’ll show you. But you can’t mention it around the guys ever. Not even if you’re being vague.”_

_Allura quirked an eyebrow and leaned forward just enough so she could look at Pidge’s face - sleepy, anxious, and covered in messy, curled bangs._

_“Only if you’re comfortable with that. I’m glad to keep any secret you want. And if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”_

_Pidge nodded and took in another deep breath. She dug through the files on her computer, expression growing more perturbed as the folders took longer than they should have to open._

_“I… have all this stuff from Earth. It was on my laptop back then and I keep transferring it between upgrades and I’m terrified of losing it. I really hope the castle keeps it safe for me, because I’ll want it again, but I also just think… it’d probably be good if I can’t look at it anymore.”_

_Allura folded her legs in front of her, sliding closer to Pidge. She cautiously rested a hand in between Pidge’s shoulder blades and rubbed small circles in comfort._

_Pidge found her target folder and highlighted all of the files. She waited impatiently for them all to load, her fingers tapping impatiently on her knee, before looking at Allura, whose eyebrows rose in surprise._

_“Is that you, Matt, Keith, and Shiro? On Earth?”_

_“Y-yeah. It is.”_

_“You all look really happy.”_

_“We were best friends.”_

_Allura’s eyes darted to her. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and she stared at Pidge with doubt. “But you all acted so...unacquainted when you arrived here.”_

_“Yeah, well…Kerberos happened.”_

_Pidge pointedly flipped slowly through a few more pictures. Allura leaned close to look, surprise growing on her face more and more. She saw a photo of Pidge getting a piggyback ride from Keith, both beaming widely, perfectly comfortable next to one another; one of Shiro and Matt flexing shirtless in front of a mirror, Keith clearly taking the picture behind them; another of Pidge and Shiro making funny faces at the camera; then one of Pidge blushing and grinning from ear to ear while Shiro hugged her from behind, his face nuzzled lovingly into her cheek._

_Pidge paused a bit too long on that one when she heard Allura make a small, surprised gasp, and scrolled to the next, and the next, each pictures of Shiro and her hugging or nuzzling or making heart-hands at the camera. She paused again at the final one, a candid she’d stolen from Keith when she got into the Garrison, where he’d captured Shiro and her kissing in front of his car._

_“That’s… that can’t be you and Shiro.”_

_“It is.”_

_“Well, your hair was beautiful,” Allura said._

_Pidge gave a somewhat harsh chuckle. “Thanks.”_

_“It’s really cute now, don’t get me wrong, but it was so long back then. It’s pretty.”_

_“That’s really all you have to say?”_

_Allura frowned, looking at Pidge. Her heart sank as she saw the Paladin’s distant expression. She couldn’t pin the emotion Pidge was possibly feeling, but she knew it wasn’t a positive one._

_“What… happened?”_

_“He forgot about me,” Pidge said with a very small shrug of one shoulder._

_Allura took in a slow breath and let it out silently before asking, “Was it the Galra?”_

_“I assume so. We were together when he left for Kerberos, and when he got back — no memories of me. I was disguised at first, sure, even though if he remembered who I was at all he’d have for sure seen past it. I know he would. But even when he called me Katie, he showed no indication that he actually KNEW me.”_

_“Oh, Pidge. I’m so, so sorry. That’s awful. Do any of the others know? That you and Shiro used to…”_

_“I’m — it’s… it’s fine. And no, they don’t… I mean, Keith does, but he won’t say anything… I just… I don’t wanna look at these anymore, but I don’t want them deleted, either.”_

_“I understand.”_

_Pidge nodded, scrolling through a few more pictures. Her eyes darkened a bit before she closed the picture window. She reselected everything in the folder and started a transfer to the Castle’s new storage system. The two remained quiet for a while, Allura holding her knees as she watched Pidge transfer file after file to the castle, both sipping coffee and nibbling on their breakfast._

_Allura finished her meal, stretched her legs out, and slowly stood. She looked down at Pidge with a soft smile. “Thank you for sharing this with me, Pidge. I’ll keep it between us, I promise. And please — if you ever need someone to talk to… I’m here.”_

_Pidge looked up at her, eyes filled with gratitude. She nodded. “Thanks, Allura. Going to bed?”_

_Allura nodded too, and Pidge said goodnight, looking back down at her laptop to continue her work._

 

“It’s holding up just fine since I was able to integrate it into the castle. Plus, finally being able to buy supplies for an upgrade definitely helped.” 

“I recently made sure the securities are holding up, but you may want to work with Matt to really back up all of your data. Especially the Alliance files. I’m not sure how well what we did before will hold against a new intruder.”

“Already on my list. But thanks, Princess.”

“Will you be working all night? Would you want to hang out together for a little bit?”

Pidge’s face softened again and she turned to look at Allura. “What are you doing tomorrow night? I want to get as much of this done as possible. But if you’re busy tomorrow then I can switch things around.”

Allura shook her head, lips curling up just a little. “I’m clear tomorrow, too. At least for now. But we can plan on a girls’ night. I think we both deserve it.”

“Don’t I know it,” Pidge chuckled, stretching her arms high above her head and arching her back, abused joints cracking loudly. Allura giggled at the noise.

“You’d think with our training that wouldn’t happen.”

“It’s my gremlin posture while I work. Definitely not good for my body, but a good thinking pose.”

“Wouldn’t having proper circulation to your brain help more? Whatever works, I suppose. I’m going to go and make some calls to Alliance members. Please at least come to dinner, Pidge. We’d all like to have you there, and you need a bit of a break.”

Pidge nodded. “I will. Couple hours, right?”

Allura slid from her stool, nodding. She gave Pidge a little smile. “I’ll send the mice in to fetch you. Good luck, and let me know if you have any problems with the files I may be able to help with.”

Pidge said a small thanks as Allura strode smoothly from the room, rubbing her hand across her elbow quickly.

Sighing, Pidge cracked her back this way and that, then slouched with her hands hanging limply at her sides. She looked between each of the screens and tried to pull her brain back into her work. Her unexpected flashback a few minutes prior had caused intrusive thoughts to try and crawl back into her mind, and she shook her head quickly, making her glasses slide down her nose as she tried to push the thoughts back.

She slammed her hands on her keyboard and growled, but she then swore loudly when she accidentally closed the progress she’d started on downloading some surveillance files. She hunched in on herself again, starting her work from scratch.

 

* * *

 

“Take care, okay, Shiro?”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re the one going off into battle right now,” Shiro chuckled. He wearily rubbed Keith’s ponytail, messing it up a bit. Keith yanked his head away and glared at Shiro as he reached his arms back to fix his hair.

“If you have nightmares, don’t hesitate to reach out to someone. I won’t be here.”

“I’m well aware.”

“Matt will be here, at least for now. And Lance and Hunk will help if you ask, I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to wake anybody up. I’ll be fine.”

Keith searched his friend’s face doubtfully. He reached out for Shiro’s cheek, Shiro waiting for a gentle touch, but Keith just gave him a tiny smirk and patted a few times. Shiro cringed slightly with each impact.

“Hey.”

“What? You used to do that to me all the time.”

“Be the bigger man, Keith.”

“I nearly am. Give me a bit more time to grow into my Galran heritage.”

Shiro pouted and looked into Keith’s eyes. “I’m supposed to be the big brother.”

Keith grinned more widely then, teeth and dimples showing — a rare occurrence. It made Shiro’s expression soften, too, and he smiled back. He reached for Keith’s shoulder and reeled him in. Both grasped at each others’ backs in a warm embrace.

“How long are you gonna be gone this time?” Shiro asked, his chin rested on Keith’s Blades armor.

Shiro wished they could just pause their duties for a week or two so he could really talk to Keith. To learn about what happened with his mother, what caused him to grow more mature, calm, and even-tempered, and let him know that he was so, so very proud of all he’d done as the Black Paladin, a Blade of Marmora, and of his growth as a person. But they were busy with helping the Alliance and Lotor’s new Galran Empire return peace to the universe. They had time together, sure, but it never quite felt like long enough to Shiro to delve into that topic. He wanted time.

Most of their alone time these days happened when Keith heard Shiro having a nightmare, and he would slip into Shiro’s room to hold him close in comfort. Shiro appreciated it like no other. Before he’d disappeared, he suffered the dreams alone; pushed away the dark thoughts and torturous memories while awake in favor of staying strong for his team. But when he returned, when Keith was home with the Paladins instead of out with the Blades of Marmora, the friend he’d long considered closer than a brother had begun to make much more of an effort to be sure he was alright whenever he could. They’d sleep in the same bed together after Keith calmed him out of a panic, or lay awake late into the night talking about Keith’s missions with the Blades or what Team Voltron had been up to while Keith was away. It was nice, to not be alone. The team’s bedrooms were all close together, but the empty, white walls made the room feel suffocatingly lonely when memories plagued him.

“Mom says just a week or two. But we’ll see. Shouldn’t be too long — if it gets to be longer, you may wanna track us down.”

Shiro pulled back and his hands moved to grab Keith’s arms. He narrowed his eyes seriously. “Not funny. Nothing’s going to happen. You’re just spying on the rebels, aren’t you?”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, we are. It’ll all be fine. I’ll be back before you know it. Train hard and keep busy. But get some rest, too.”

Keith pulled himself away. Shiro’s hands fell to his lap as he watched Keith stand and turn away, picking up his duffel bag from the lounge couch. He leaned back in the cushion, keeping an eye on his little brother as he walked to the door to leave, and quirked an eyebrow as Keith turned back to him.

“Try to… talk to Pidge a bit, okay?” Keith said, eyebrows raised just slightly, his eyes meeting Shiro’s.

Shiro pushed his lips to the side and back, then gave Keith a defeated look. “She’s been mad at me again lately.”

“She’s not mad. She’s just tired. You know she’ll listen to you if you try.”

“It hasn’t been the same since I came back, Keith. Not like when we first came up here.”

At the beginning, aside from Keith, Pidge was the Paladin who was the most comfortable with him. He didn’t know why at first, but he appreciated how respectful she was toward him. It wasn’t a formal respect, either, but one that seemed familiar — like they were instantly friends. When he found out she was Matt’s younger sister, it all came together for him. She’d probably heard plenty about him as he’d heard about her. There was a brief time, after they’d fought Zarkon for the first time, wherein she seemed somewhat irritated with him, but it lasted only a few days, and she wasn’t temperamental with him even once. She’d talk to him happily after each mission, and smile any time he spoke with her. She was always the first one to ask him to join in a fun team activity. She looked up to him on missions and worked well with him on a team.

Not anymore. Since returning from the Astral Plane, she’d be normal with him some days but kept her distance and was quiet around him on others. Her eyes only met his when absolutely necessary. She’d even snap at him every now and then. He wasn’t sure what happened to change it all while he was gone. He’d asked Matt about it, but Matt brushed him off, saying she was behaving like she always did. But Shiro denied the rebuttal. She wasn’t the same. Keith would always deflect. Lance, Hunk, Allura, and Coran would just shrug when he asked if she was acting strange.

It hurt him. He had no clue why, other than knowing he missed his friend. He tried to tell himself that things would go back to normal over time, but he became more impatient with each interaction. He stopped trying to be overly friendly toward her to try and get her to reciprocate. Maybe she needed space — so he gave it to her. He spent more time with Lance, Hunk, Allura, or Coran while Pidge spent her time alone in the workshop on her laptop with only Matt or Hunk occasionally accompanying her. But he _missed_ her.

Keith sighed. He looked back to the door, down to the floor, then back to Shiro. “She has her brother back, and she rescued her dad. She doesn’t have a reason to… she’s just got different things on her mind now, okay? Just… talk to her. Nothing will go back to normal unless you guys talk. It’s not good for the team to have this ice between you two.”

Shiro chuckled a little nervously. “I didn’t really say there was ice…”

“There is. Break it.” Keith looked at him pointedly before turning again. He adjusted his bag over his shoulder, then retreated down the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A successful mission; A not-so-successful chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks guys again for reading! I'm going to try my /best/ to update every Sunday. I've been working on this series nearly every day, so I have enough written and plot laid out to hopefully stick to that schedule.  
> Please leave kudos or comments if you can! I appreciate the encouragement :3c Also, let me know if inserting pictures is annoying, haha. I'm enjoying doing it. When I was told it was possible, I let out an inhuman gasp. If you didn't manage to catch the art I posted for Chapter One, go ahead and take a peek! I posted it a day or two after I initially posted the chapter, because I was impatient to get it up.  
> Once again, thanks to d0gbless for... literally everything! You've been an amazing beta as well as someone to chat to and bounce ideas off from. You're the real MVP.

“Stay close, team. The fight may not be fully over,” Shiro said over comms, gripping both the Black Lion’s flight controls tightly. His Galratech hand creaked at the joints as it curled around the handle.

“Shiro, Red’s saying there are still some fighters behind us. Should we take care of them?” Lance asked.

“Do you know how many?”

“Not sure. Enough the kitty needed to tell me, though,” Lance admitted. Allura chuckled at his terminology. 

“Okay. About face, team. Lance, you and Pidge go ahead and take care of them since you’re the fastest, and we’ll keep on for backup.”

“Roger,” Lance and Pidge said at once. 

All Lions turned in formation, causing a dull rainbow of light to curl around them. Red and Green shot ahead, and Red took the easy lead with Black, Blue, and Yellow bringing up the tail.

“Three on your left, Lance,” Hunk called, keeping a close eye on the area ahead.

“Thanks, buddy.” Lance pushed on his controls, urging Red quickly forward. He shot a few fiery blasts toward the rebel ships, hitting two square on with a third narrowly dodging his attack. He was about to swear under his breath and turn to fire a second round, but Lance saw the Green Lion shooting vines at the fighter, covering it completely and causing it to lose mobility.

“There’s several more heading back to the main ship,” Allura called as she pulled ahead with Blue. But Lance and Pidge turned around, speeding ahead to take care of them first. They returned to formation once the final ships were taken out and Shiro suggested they sweep the area before heading back to the Castle Ship.

Inside, they met in the control room. Shiro removed his helmet and gave his team a big grin before praising their good work. “Go ahead and rest,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on the scanners with Coran.”

“No,” Pidge said. She lowered her helmet as well, shook her hair from her face, and strode toward and past him. “You go rest. I’ve got it.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but seeing her adamant expression as she swept by him, he closed it again.

“Fine. I’ll take over in a bit.”

“No you won’t. Go to sleep.”

He pursed his lips then, turning to look at the back of Pidge’s head. Hunk, Lance, and Allura exchanged glances before Hunk slowly walked up to Shiro and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Come on, Shiro. Let’s go clean up and I’ll make us some dinner,” he said quietly. Shiro looked at him, expression loosening again. Defeated, he followed Hunk, Lance, and Allura from the room.

He headed straight for his bedroom and grabbed a change of clothes before sliding into his bathroom. He climbed into the shower and let the hot water pour over him as he concentrated on cleaning up from the day’s mission. Before long, he found himself leaning his head against the shower wall, eyes closed in thought.  

_ “There is. Break it.” _

Keith’s words echoed in his mind as he thought about the curt, icy way Pidge spoke to him. His stomach twisted with the guilt rising in him, though he didn’t know what he’d done to warrant it.

Since he came back to the team — the real him — it was a gamble on whether he’d get the cheerful, smiling Pidge, who excitedly told him about projects she was working on, or the quiet, blank expression Pidge, who didn’t want to look him in the eye. He wasn’t sure what caused the change or whether it was even happening at all. After all, when she’d snap at him, she’d turn around and be her normal, chipper self with Lance or Hunk afterwards. She was even closer to Keith now, which had never happened before.

Did she not trust him? Even though the rest of the team did, and they’d run thorough tests to prove it was the real him… did she still think he was a clone?

He slammed his head gently against the wall, and squeezed his closed eyes tighter. Why did it bug him so much, anyway?

After he’d finished his shower, he slipped on comfortable pajama pants and a hoodie, running his human hand back and forth over his bangs to shake the water out as he walked to the dining room. 

“Hey, Shiro,” Hunk said as he set the table. “Good shower?”

“I guess,” Shiro said unconvincingly.

Hunk frowned. He set down the last plate before standing straight and crossing his arms high on his chest. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Pidge’s attitude still getting to you?” Hunk asked, eyebrows raised slightly as Shiro met Hunk’s eyes. Hunk gave him an honest look. “She’s just tired and snappy. Don’t let it bug you so much. It isn’t personal.”

“Not so sure about that,” Shiro said, following Hunk into the kitchen. Hunk peeked over his shoulder at him before returning to the stove to stir the meal he was preparing.

“Look, you didn’t do anything. At least, not on purpose. Pidge looks up to you a lot… literally.” Hunk chuckled as he added the last part, and Shiro couldn’t help but grin a little. “She’s really, really glad you’re back and safe with us. She’s just overworked and makes it worse on herself by not sleeping. We all just need to be better about dragging her ass to bed.”

“She gets really mad when we make her go to bed,” Shiro said. He handed Hunk some spices as he pointed to them with the free hand that wasn’t still stirring the pot.

“Yeah, well, she’s feisty and ornery. You take the grumpy pigeon and put her to bed, and she’ll wake up less grumpy,” Hunk chuckled. “Honestly, Shiro, it isn’t you. We’re all pretty tired, but you and Pidge just take it a step further.”

Leaning against the counter, Shiro crossed his arms. “You think it’d help if I talked to her?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know… just to ask her what’s bothering her. Keith said there’s ice between us and I should break it.”

Hunk chewed on his bottom lip, pinching spices into the dish. He stirred some more and looked over at Shiro. “Keith and Pidge HAVE been a lot more buddy-buddy than I’ve ever seen them. Maybe there IS something eating at her, especially if  _ he’s _ trying to comfort her.”

“So you think I should talk to her, too.”

“Wouldn’t hurt. I mean, you’re her brother’s best friend and Keith’s best friend, and she and Keith are all close and weird now… she should wanna talk to you.” Hunk shrugged. “You really have NO idea what it could be?”

“Other than she just doesn’t trust me anymore, no idea.” Shiro shrugged, and Hunk sighed.

“Help me dish this up, ‘kay?” Hunk asked, lifting the pot from the stove after turning the burner off. Shiro nodded and led Hunk into the dining room.

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro carefully carried a bowl of hot stew into the control room, where Pidge was curled up in her chair, closely watching scanners on several hologram windows in front of her. “I brought you some dinner,” he said. “Hunk made stew, and it was really good.”

“Thanks,” Pidge said briskly, eyeing him through drooping lids. He set it down on the clear portion of table carefully, and her gaze returned to the screens. She waited for him to leave but didn’t hear any footsteps. After a moment, she turned her head to her left and looked up at him with one raised eyebrow.

“Yeah?” she asked as Shiro stood with his arms crossed, looking around the room and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“I, um… can we talk?” he asked quietly. He’d turned his face away but peered down at her from the corner of his eyes.

Pidge’s heart stopped for a split second, causing her to take in a sharp gust of air in alarm, but she slowly sat up straight and folded her legs beneath herself.

“About what?” she asked, reaching for the bowl of stew and cradling it in her lap.

Shiro relaxed just a tick, relieved she didn’t immediately turn him away. He moved to sit down, but paused before standing straight again, not sure whether he should get comfortable quite yet.

“I wanted to ask,” he started, rubbing the short hair at the back of his head as he watched Pidge blow on a spoonful of food. “Why you’re… upset with me?”

She paused with the spoon almost in her mouth, lowering it slowly, her mouth turning down in a frown. Her heart sank.

“I’m… not,” she lied, looking up at him with weary eyes.

“You seem like you are,” Shiro said quietly, meeting her gaze. Pidge’s expression was blank, but he could see the dark circles under her eyes. He wondered if Hunk was right. Maybe she was just exhausted from her work.

“Sorry,” Pidge said somewhat too briskly. She looked back down at her bowl and stirred the contents absently. “I’m… really tired. I don’t mean to snap at you. But you need rest, too, and you won’t listen unless someone really kicks you around, and nobody else seems willing to do that but me.”

Shiro frowned. He moved again to take his seat on the ground, folding his legs and resting his hands loosely over his knees. “I appreciate it. But is that it? You… seem annoyed more than when you’re just telling me to sleep.”

Pidge picked at her stew some more and sat back in her chair with a sigh.

“I don’t know, Shiro. I’m stressed. There’s a lot on my mind. I’m sorry for taking it out on you, okay? I’m really sorry.”

“I’m sorry for doing anything to annoy you. Do you think Matt would be willing to come back and do some of the work for you?”

Pidge barely tilted her head down to look at him. “You’re not annoying me at all. And he would. But he shouldn’t have to. I’ve got it. I’m fine, really.”

“You can take time to sleep. There isn’t that much that needs to be done.”

“Yeah there is.”

“Pidge, I was there when Allura was asking you to get the files together for the meeting, and that was last week — what are you doing now?”

“Castle and Lion upgrades,” she replied with some attitude, blowing on more stew and stubbornly shoving it into her mouth, hoping it’d make Shiro not ask her more questions. She rolled her eyes a bit when he kept talking.

“All that can hold off long enough for you to get some sleep.”

“I don’t WANT to sleep, Shiro,” she whined, poking at her food again.

He frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. “Neither do I, but we both have to.”

“Why do you care?”

“I care about you.”

That struck a nerve. Pidge closed her eyes, taking a deep breath through her nose, her heart pounding against her chest.  _ He doesn’t mean it that way, Katie, pull it together. _

“Yeah, well, I care about you, too, and you’ve been through way worse shit than me, so you should go get rest first,” she said. Her stomach growled from hunger and the lurching feeling she got from his words.

“This isn’t a contest,” Shiro said, sitting up straight with his arms crossed. Pidge looked annoyed at his stern tone. “We’re all on a team together, and we’ve got to ALL take care of ourselves.”

“If we’re a team, shouldn’t we take care of each other?” Pidge snapped. She turned away, annoyed it came out so rudely.

Shiro narrowed his lips and eyes. “If we’re a team, shouldn’t we get along and communicate with one another?” he retorted.

She put another spoonful of stew into her mouth, and looked back at the scanners tensely while she chewed.

Shiro watched her, a deep frown on his lips. His heart raced slightly from the confrontation. This didn’t go at all as planned. He let out a slow breath, trying to steady himself, and slowly stood. “I’m gonna go to bed. You should too. That’s an order.”

Pidge glared at Shiro as he stormed out of the room. “Can’t order me to do shit,” she muttered under her breath and shoved more food into her mouth.

When she finished eating, she lay her head back against her chair with a deep sigh. She went to work unsnapping her armor pieces, letting them clank to the floor to her right near her helmet until she was left in her spandex bodysuit.

She curled up in her chair, switching the scanners to different views and determined to stay awake to spite Shiro.

It took just an hour for her to be out cold, though, head leaning limply over her shoulder.

Coran came in to check the castle systems before he went to bed, shaking his head when he found her. He left to bring in a blanket and pillow, returning to cover her and very carefully lift her head onto the cushion.

“How many times have I done this by now, number five,” he chuckled quietly to himself, petting Pidge’s hair fondly before finishing his check and going off to bed.

Pidge woke in the early morning, cramped, tired, and annoyed. She continued to watch the scanners, not moving until Allura came in to find her. The Princess asked her to come to training and Pidge agreed, albeit reluctantly. She followed Allura from the room until Pidge split off to go into her bedroom. There she brushed her teeth and fixed her messy hair a bit, then changed into her training attire — sweatpants and a loose tank top over a long sports bra, her worn-out orange sneakers tied tightly on her feet.

She met Hunk in the hall on her way down and exchanged sleepy good mornings. They slipped into the training room together and sat beside one another to stretch out their limbs, no sounds between the two aside from the occasional stifled yawn. 

Pidge’s face darkened when she saw Shiro come in with Lance. The Blue Paladin collapsed onto the floor beside his teammates to stretch as well, yawning through a groggy “g’mornin’.” Pidge grunted in reply and squared her shoulders when Shiro stopped behind her, his arms crossed and standing tall. Hunk sighed heavily — the talk must not have gone very well.

“Pidge and Lance. Get up,” Shiro ordered, and she stood without a word, facing off against Lance without waiting for Shiro’s instruction. He shook his head and took a deep breath before asking Hunk to spar with him.

The pairs fought quietly. Allura came in to watch and give pointers, eventually trading with Lance to square off with Pidge and help her with more fighting forms. She helped her practice her kicks and punches while the boys fought at the other end of the training deck. The girls kept at it until it was just the two of them in the training room, then they sat on the floor with some water to stretch out their legs.

“What’s the matter?” Allura asked quietly, reaching her upper body toward her toes. “You’ve been quiet and cranky all morning.”

“Shiro wanted to talk last night, and we didn’t really… end it well,” Pidge admitted.

Allura sighed deeply. “He’s upset, Pidge. He misses being pals with you. Just let him in,” Allura urged, somewhat sternly, and Pidge gave her an irritated look. “Stop that. I understand how you must feel, but you snipping at him is causing the entire team anxiety and to be honest? I think it’s wearing on you, too.”

Pidge sighed, exasperated. She fell backwards onto the floor with a dull thud.

“What exactly IS the matter, Pidge?” Allura asked quietly as she slid across the floor so she could see Pidge’s face. She looked down at her with a frown. “You get crabby sometimes, but you’re never THIS crabby.”

Pidge gave her a somber look. “I’m tired. I work and work all day, training this, missions that, oh look a Voltron show! Then we get back and I work on the ship or the lions or my laptop, and then when it gets late enough… I’m afraid to sleep.”

Allura looked perplexed. “Why’s that?”

Pidge stared up at the high ceiling of the training deck. “I don’t want to think. If I’m busy, I can’t think. Well, I do, but not about… personal things. Just work. Science, coding, theories, robotics, even quintessence… the things I understand and what I’m good at. I’m not good at feelings. I don’t want to deal with them.”

Allura sighed, flopping down onto the floor on her side. She reached to brush some of Pidge’s bangs behind her ears.

“You’re good at feelings. You care deeply for your family, and you were very passionate about getting them back. But once you had them, do you think you needed a new goal?”

“My goal was saving the universe with the team.”

“Okay, but that was all of our goal from the beginning. You were working on that with us WHILE searching for Matt and your father — a personal goal. What’s your personal goal now?”

Pidge scrunched up her face, her eyes stinging but not watering. 

“I don’t know. I guess just… protecting my friends.”

“I have a slight suspicion that there’s more than that.”

Pidge jolted up into a sitting position and rounded on Allura. “I want him to remember, okay? It didn’t bother me before. I mean, when I first found out, yeah, I was hurt, but I had Matt and Dad to worry about. I wanted to and could focus on them and only them.” She threw her hands in front of her body, making chopping motions to represent her compartmentalized thoughts. “Shiro was safe, that’s what mattered. Who cares if he didn’t remember me? But now, I found Matt, and I found Dad, and I can’t OBSESS over anything else but these DAMNED memories and it HURTS, and,” she forced her fingers back through her hair as she threw out her words, more frustrated with each syllable, “I don’t want to THINK.” 

She slammed back down to the floor, hands covering her face. Allura expected sobs to accompany the action, but Pidge’s breathing continued to be even. 

“Maybe you need to think,” Allura suggested as she carefully pried one of Pidge’s hands away, both so she could get proper air and because she was curious if Pidge was tearing up — but her eyes were dry.

“Why?”

“Bottling things up never helps anyone,” Allura said quietly. Slowly, she sat up and tugged on Pidge’s arm to pull her upright as well. “And pushing those you care about away doesn’t help, either.”

Pidge gave her a sideways glance before hugging her knees close to her chest. “I’m not trying to push him away. It’s just… ever since he came back again, after I had Matt and Dad… he acts like SHIRO again, not… a slightly-off, kind of controlling jerk Shiro like that clone… which, I know now, clone-Shiro wasn’t really that bad all the time, he was just being mind controlled and whatever, but...” She sighed, pausing before she could take off on a tangent. “Though he rarely smiles, and he’s not joking around like he used to… it’s still the guy I knew. The one I loved. It hurts because my first instinct is to hug him and kiss him and act like nothing happened, but I know that’s impossible. We aren’t together anymore. He doesn’t even have a clue we ever were.”

“Have you asked him?” Allura pulled her knees close as well. She looked around Pidge’s bangs to meet her eyes. “Have you asked, ‘Shiro, do you remember anything about me from Earth?’”

Pidge pouted. “No.”

“Then how do you know? Maybe he does remember some things. His memories seem to come back to him over time. Maybe he’s recovered some about you, too.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

Allura gave her a meaningful smile. “Maybe he doesn’t know how to.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Voltron Show returns!  
> As well as something else a little more... unexpected.

Keith was back, and he wasn’t happy about it. Shiro couldn’t do anything but laugh. He’d been gone longer than he wanted on his mission, but the Red Paladin came home just in time for one of Coran’s Voltron shows — the exact thing Keith never wanted to be a part of.

“Make Allura do it,” he said. Shiro laughed louder than before, clutching his stomach as he doubled over, helmet hanging lamely in one hand.

“Allura’s going to sit with — haha — the Alliance and Lotor — haha,” Shiro continued to laugh. Keith kicked him, somewhat roughly, in the shin. Shiro stumbled backwards and straightened up the best he could while he wiped a tear of laughter from his eye with a gloved finger. He coughed to clear his throat and quell what remained of his giggling.

Keith shook his head in annoyance and put his helmet between his legs while he fixed his hair into a higher ponytail, then shoved his helmet unceremoniously onto his head.

“Sorry, just — we’ve had to do shit tons of these. You’ve only participated in one or two. You’ll survive, bro,” Shiro said, pushing his shoulder as Keith flipped his visor shade down bluntly in response.

Shiro shook his head, put on his own helmet, and pushed Keith out of their curtained dressing room by his shoulder. Keith sighed audibly when Lance teased him that he was “looking good, Red,” and Shiro moved between Hunk and Pidge, who were both standing with their arms crossed while they waited for the show to begin. He placed a hand on Hunk’s shoulder and rubbed the top of Pidge’s helmet. She grinned up at him cheerily and met his eyes, and he grinned back, his heart fluttering a bit.

It had been two weeks since their fight, and she hadn’t snapped at him once. In fact, it seemed like she had been trying to make an extra effort to come to him for ideas on how to upgrade the lions, or to talk about their latest missions, or tell him stories about what happened while he was gone. He was more than willing each time to engage her, of course, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The old bright-eyed, curious, cheerful Pidge was back. He hadn’t asked her why — afraid that, for whatever reason, it would cause her to close up again. He knew he needed to talk to her more, and he really wanted to, but for the time being he was just enjoying having his friend back.

“Okay, team. Ready?” he asked when he heard the Triun announcer introduce them. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge gave cheerful affirmatives; Keith groaned; and Shiro gave him a joking finger-gun to tell him to behave.

The Paladins rushed on stage. Cheers greeted them from the stands, and a uniform _hiss_ welcomed them from downstage. Twelve Triun children — each taller than Pidge, but lanky, awkward, and suited in dark grey and orange Galran Rebel costumes — squared off against them. They’d rehearsed with the kids that morning and had gotten used to playing their parts, but fully dressed and in character, the kids looked nearly comical. It was hard to keep a straight face.

The show was to represent Team Voltron’s recent feat in defending the Triun homeworld from Galran Rebels — those who still refused to accept Lotor as their Emperor and strove to continue the rule of tyranny over the universe. Admittedly, it wasn’t a long fight. The densely forested planet made for easy hiding for the Rebels, but Pidge and the Green Lion were able to navigate the terrain swiftly and expertly. It was simple to push the Rebels into the skies for the rest of her team to aid in clearing them out.

More Triun actors ran to the stage after the opening hiss. They crowded around their fellows and the Paladins to create the illusion of a forest by waving their mossy arms smoothly in the air.

“The Rebels have to be hiding in the trees! Lance, use your sonic cannon to find them!” Shiro called out his first line and waved Lance to go forward. Pidge choked back a laugh at Shiro’s exaggerated acting.

Lance hurried ahead of the group and wove through a few of the dancing Triun children. With a swift movement he reached over his shoulders to pull at a rolled cloth attached to the top of his jetpack — it swept over his head, levitated, and as he pulled it down, it was revealed to be in the shape of the Blue Lion. The tree-actors near him used their waving arms to billow air into the costume and keep it afloat.

“Ready, Baby Blue?” Lance cried out enthusiastically. “Let’s find these bad boys!”

He lifted into the air with his jetpack; a second later, bright blue streamers spilled from the Blue Lion parachute’s mouth. They spilled onto the Triun kids beneath him, who parted to reveal the group of Galran Rebel actors. The “trees” flooded back together a second later.

“Pidge, get in there and weed them out!” Shiro cried. She nodded, taking her cue to also pull on her Green Lion parachute. It rippled overhead as she ran through the “trees” and passed between them unseen, save for the Green Lion which danced just over their heads. A cheesy grin spread across her face when roaring sound effects, manned by Coran backstage, echoed around them. The crowd cheered as she circled around the Rebel actors, once, twice, and three times, which finally caused them to run further downstage. All the Triun trees parted and lined up on either side of the large wooden platform.

She circled back behind Hunk and waved her arms excitedly in order to keep her Green Lion afloat. Expectantly, she looked to Keith. He stood with his arms crossed, blinking at the costumed kids to his right.

“Keith,” Hunk hissed under his breath. Keith started and looked back at him quickly.

“Uh.”

Pidge internally smacked herself in the face.

Lance circled back, waving Blue overhead, and pushed at Keith’s back, causing his Red parachute to unravel. Quickly, Keith took it, panicked, and swung it overhead. He ran toward the Rebels and roared at the top of his lungs - quite convincingly, too, as it caused the kids to scream and part. Pidge bit her bottom lip as Lance’s body jerked with the force of a laugh.

“Keith, use your flames, but be careful of the trees!” Shiro called as he and Hunk quickly took their cues to pull on their Lion costumes as well. Keith barely waited for Shiro to finish before he flew into the air and released a barrage of red streamers. Some fell across the spindly limbs of the children — others floated through the air and into the crowd, who cheered as they reached to grab the souvenirs. The other Paladins ran downstage and circled around the costumed Rebels.

Keith continued to chase them, and soon expended the last of his streamers while roaring jovially. Shiro stumbled as he turned, surprised to see a big grin on his friend’s face. He was enjoying the roaring _far_ too much.

“Shiro! Red’s out of ammo!” Keith called as he circled back and collapsed to the ground near Hunk. Shiro blinked down at him and shared a look with Lance — their lines were way off. “We have to form Voltron!”

“Alright, team!” Shiro called out hesitantly. “It’s time to FORM VOLTRON.”

The crowd went wild while there were excited gasps behind them — the Rebel-dressed kids scrambled to prepare, early, for their final fight. The Paladins ran in formation upstage while the Triun-trees hurried to swarm around them, and in a quick change of costume while huddled beneath flourishing, mossy arms, they turned, each supporting one end of a giant, Voltron-shaped paper mâché mannequin.

Shiro quickly reached his left arm toward Pidge to help her suspend the Green arm with a grin. She was too short to get it high enough into the air. In his next breath, he shouted, “Ready, team? Let’s take out those Galra!”

In a clumsy display, they chased after the Rebels, who now donned Galran ship-shaped parachutes above their heads. They shot pink streamers at their giant Voltron foe, only to be repelled with clumsy kicks performed by Lance and Hunk, crouching low enough allow for the robot to stay upright while still giving Pidge a chance to control her arm.

“Keith, your line,” Shiro hissed. Keith was supposed to deliver a line about how it wasn’t working, they needed to find a new plan — like how he’d done when they saved the Triunian planet. They kited the Galran ships into the distant mountains — to be played by the same kids who were just representing the forest. The rippling grey-and-pink ships circled them in a figure eight.

“Uh,” Keith repeated quietly. “FORM SWORD.”

In a panic, Pidge pushed her arm forward to meet with Keith’s Red Lion arm, and they bonked the two together with a dull thud. What was he doing?

Her question was answered as Keith’s red bayard formed its longblade in a sparkle of light. The crowd gasped. Quickly, Pidge summoned the blue forcefield shield from her Paladin armor and stuck her arm out. “FORM SHIELD,” she cried.

She heard Hunk snort below her and quickly nudged him in the side with her foot before being launched forward with the effort of the four boys moving the giant mannequin. She stumbled this way and that, trying to keep her shield outstretched as they mimed attacking the Triunian children dressed as Galran Rebel soldiers. Each fell to their knees then completely to the ground with dramatic gasps and cries of pain.

They paused for a moment, unsure of how to continue. Silence fell over the crowd. Keith rose his bayard to the sky in victory. In an instant, a roar of applause and cheers echoed across the audience. Keith swore under his breath, to a quiet gasp of disapproval from one of the kids lying at their feet. Shiro, Hunk, Lance, and Pidge snickered under their breath.

Shiro led the team in making Faketron bow, and they retreated backstage.

“Keith, what the _hell_ ,” Lance said once they were well behind the curtains. Keith tensed until Lance slapped a hand on his shoulder with a grin as wide as his face. “Nice covers.”

“Uh… thanks,” Keith said, a tint of pink covering his cheeks as he stared, bewildered, at Lance. “S-sorry for forgetting my lines.”

“Don’t worry about it, dude,” Hunk said as he pulled his helmet from his head. He beamed at Keith. “I think it turned out better this way.”

“Yes, yes, you all did well -— but you still should have followed the script.” Coran came from the soundbooth tugging on his cowlick. He sounded a little bitter. Keith offered him an apologetic look once he’d pulled off his helmet, and stumbled forward when Shiro launched at him in a one-armed hug.

“That’s my Red Paladin,” Shiro said, voice brimming with pride. Keith rolled his eyes as he struggled away.

“You’re sweaty,” he teased, pushing Shiro by his chestplate. Shiro chuckled and accepted a high five from Pidge — but instead of a simple slap, he grabbed her hand and teasingly lifted her off her feet.

“Next time you’re getting platform shoes.”

“Not funny.”

“Paladins.” They turned to see the Triun announcer — Leille — standing just inside the curtain. “Could we trouble you for some autographs?”

“Sure thing,” Shiro said as he set Pidge back to her feet. Keith groaned and Shiro hurried to latch his arm around the younger boy’s elbow before he could escape. “Let’s go, team.”

They stepped back onto the stage, only to be barraged by a crowd of excited treefolk. Long, bark-colored limbs reached for them in excitement as they lined up (Keith tried at first to hide behind Shiro) in their proper order to fulfill their fans’ requests.

Many signatures and a few failed Keith-escapes later, and they were ushered away by Coran. “Go change,” he said as he held his arms out to barrier them from further autograph demands. The Paladins hurried backstage to retrieve their helmets they’d left behind, then ran down a dirt path that led to the Castle, parked in a grassy clearing.

They separated into their rooms to wash up and change, for there would be a banquet in their honor. It was normal to be offered a feast in gratitude for saving captive planets — not so normal to be expected to dress up.

“They’re all pomp and grandeur,” Ryner had explained with distaste when they met with her for a scheduled Alliance meeting, just after being extended the offer for the show and afterparty. The Triun were an ancient relative of the Olkari. Once they were the same race, but had split into two groups based upon cultural values. While the Olkari valued the pursuit of knowledge and scientific advancement, the Triun leaned more toward creativity and spirituality. They adored the artistic, aesthetic things that life had to offer.

As such, the banquets they held for guests were lavish and, as Hunk put when he saw the costumes given to them that morning, “Extra.”

Keith waited outside Shiro’s room for him before he headed out. He was dressed in a Galran-styled suit similar to Shiro’s. Lotor had provided them all with clothing, since the Paladins insisted they couldn’t go shopping for proper attire. They had little time, and less money.

“Ready?” Shiro asked as he pulled a black glove over his Galratech hand. Keith nodded, patted Shiro’s shoulder, and led him outdoors.

They gathered Hunk and Lance on their way, and Lance told them that Pidge had gone ahead with Allura. Young Triun whistled and fawned over them as they walked toward the banquet center, but Shiro refused to let Lance stop to sign more autographs.

They finally caught up with Lotor’s group — Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor — who were all dressed up as well.

“You clean up pretty well,” Ezor teased as she placed her hands on her bare hips. She took a step toward Lance and lifted his chin smoothly. “Especially you, Blue.”

Lance smirked and pulled his face away calmly. “Looking pretty good yourself, Ezor. Lotor should let you slip out of that space suit more often.”

Ezor giggled and looked back to her sisters. Acxa rolled her eyes while Zethrid just chuckled under her breath.

“Where’s the short one?” Ezor asked. She put her elbow on Lance’s shoulder to use him as an armrest and watched Lotor as he spoke with a group of Triun behind Acxa and Zethrid.

“Who, Pidge? She ran off with Allura as soon as she was dressed. She’s around here somewhere,” Lance said. He looked up at Hunk, who was picking at the hem of his suit sleeve. “So is there going to be dancing tonight? If it’s some type of gala-banquet thing, doesn’t that normally mean dancing?”

“No idea, but you better save a dance for me if there is,” Ezor slid her arm from Lance’s shoulder to squish his cheeks gently between her hands. He blushed and grinned up at her.

“Of course, m’lady.”

She wrinkled her nose at him, pleased, and took her hands away. After a shrug toward the Paladins with a little giggle, she turned back to the other Generals and pulled them away.

“The ONE girl who actually flirts back at you, and you don’t even bother asking her out,” Hunk sighed. Lance turned to give him a dirty look while Shiro and Keith exchanged amused glances. “Seriously, dude?”

“Ezor and I are just friends! It’s all in good fun.” Lance crossed his arms. He turned toward his group to look Hunk, Shiro, and Keith up and down, and scrutinized the matching suits. All were a deep gray with trimmings in the color of their lions. His eyes paused a bit longer on Keith, the Red Paladin’s attention drawn away by a group of loudly giggling girls to his right. Shiro quirked an eyebrow at Lance. His curiosity was piqued when the Blue Paladin looked a little too interested in checking out his Red counterpart.

He looked away when Lance did and scanned the crowd for the rest of their team. Coran joined them shortly and told them about how he’d found their table while he swished a glass of red liquid in his right hand.

Pidge and Allura finally joined the group, also with drinks in hand. Shiro felt heat rise to his cheeks as he saw Pidge in her green dress — it was low cut in the front, form-fitting at the waist, and dipped as low as was appropriate in the back. He looked her up and down a few times before he realized he was being too obvious, and turned away as she wandered toward her friends. He coughed to himself and fixed his sleeve over his Galratech arm.

“Hey, guys,” Pidge said. “This punch is really gross. Would not recommend.”

“Looking good, Pidgey,” Lance teased, and Shiro glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, surprised to see her looking pleased instead of annoyed. A tiny feeling of jealousy pulled at his insides.

“You, too, Lance. You all look great,” Pidge said. She gave Hunk her drink when he insisted on trying it, but Hunk took one sip and turned away to discreetly spit it out. Shaking her head at him, Pidge looked around and went to compliment their Galran allies as well. She spoke with them for a little while, and Shiro watched her with a soft look plastered on his face.

With her arms crossed low on her hips, Pidge returned to stand beside Keith, who draped his arm loosely over her shoulder.

Shiro turned to look at her once more, hoping she’d be looking away, as he wanted one more chance to take in the sight of her in something other than her typical loose, giant sweaters or Paladin armor. He flinched, though, when he looked at her at the same time she looked at him. He forced himself to look away and fussed with his sleeve again.

“Shiro… are you _blushing_?” she asked as a broad grin spread across her face. She stepped around to try and get a look at him. His ears burned at the accusation.

“N-no,” he stammered. His eyes widened a bit as he turned his body further away from her sight, and his heart fluttered again when he heard her giggle.

“Liar,” she said. Pidge sounded pleased with herself. She ducked back against Keith, who gave Shiro a smug smirk as soon as he’d turned around, and held her more tightly to his side. Cheeks still flushed, Shiro pouted his lip at Keith a little.

“Good, all the suits fit you,” Allura said as she swept up to them. A glimmering white gown flowed gracefully behind her as she moved. “Are you all hungry? Coran found our table. It’s near the stage. We’ll be sitting with Lotor and his generals.”

She smiled when Lance and Pidge looked excited. They were the two who had bonded the most quickly with their new and unexpected allies. Hunk was courteous yet somewhat hesitant around them, Keith was still extremely suspicious of them all, and Shiro was always too busy talking business to get to know them on a personal level.

Allura waved the Paladins toward her, urging them to follow her to their assigned seats. They sat in Voltron order, from Lance on the left to Hunk on the far right, Coran at the head of the table beside the Yellow Paladin. Across from Lance sat Ezor, then Acxa, Lotor, Allura, and Zethrid.

“Nice work in the performance tonight, Keith,” Lotor said as he brought a tall glass of champagne to his lips. Keith glanced at him from the top of his eyes, head bowed as he toyed with his glass of water.

“Thanks,” he said, averting his gaze. His ears reddened when Ezor and Acxa chuckled at his curt response.

“All of you did very well,” Lotor continued. He raised his glass in salute to them after taking a small sip. “When is the next performance, Coran?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to schedule anything yet,” he said as he stroked his mustache in thought. “I suppose not for a few weeks.”

“Be sure to send word so we can watch,” Lotor said. Allura smiled up at him with a little pink on her cheeks to match her Altean markings. Pidge grinned across the table at her before she reached for her glass of water and took a long drink. She glanced down the table at Lance and Ezor when they leaned across to talk in hushed voices, and wondered what they were on about. They both had far too suspicious of looks on their faces.

“Work on anything interesting lately, shorty?” Zethrid asked fondly. Pidge turned to her with a huge grin.

“I’ve found a way to increase the duration of stealth on the lions. It only needs a few tweaks then Hunk and I can work on applying it to each of them,” she grinned at Hunk, who returned it toothily. “Maybe I can apply it to your ships, too.”

“We’d appreciate that,” Zethrid said encouragingly. “Definitely would help us sneak up on the Rebels.”

“Best not to speak of such things out in the open,” Lotor reminded as he leaned behind Allura. Zethrid and Pidge exchanged disappointed pouts.

“What else is there to talk about other than fighting and blowing shit up,” Zethrid asked. She took a drink of her ale.

Hunk perked up. “Have you ever played Monsters and Mana?”

Zethrid’s golden eyes flashed with curiosity. “What’s that?”

“It’s this old Altean game Coran introduced us to. You make a character and a background story, choose a class, and you go on this really cool adventure with your team,” Hunk said. His voice brimmed with excitement.

Coran leaned over the table to beam at Zethrid. “I’m the Lore Master. So I control what happens in the story!” His eyes twinkled as Zethrid looked between him and Hunk.

“Why not just go on an adventure in real life?”

“Okay, yeah, sure, but this is like, a safe way to just have fun with friends, and do crazy things you can’t do in real life,” Hunk reasoned, waving one hand out in front of him. Pidge gave him a crooked grin. She twisted her legs and placed her hands on her knees, arms stick-straight.

“I like playing as a dwarf, since I’m already short and it works,” she chuckled. “I get to be tanky and wield a huge axe that’d totally be too heavy for me in real life. Hunk likes to be a mage, monk, or bard, which have magic powers that he obviously can’t use, either.”

“You could’ve left out the ‘obviously’, Pidge,” Hunk muttered as he leaned back in his chair. Zethrid chuckled.

“It does sound maybe a _little_ interesting,” she said. Hunk looked up at her.

“Maybe you all can play with us next time you visit the castle. If, I guess, we’re not too busy talking about work and stuff the whole time,” he said. Zethrid nodded and leaned away from Coran, who began to enthusiastically swing his arms around.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see what you all do with your characters,” Coran exclaimed, and Pidge and Hunk looked to each other with raised eyebrows and toothy smiles. “Maybe you all can split into different teams and there can be more conflict as well.”

“What do you play, Shiro?” Zethrid asked when she noticed him listening in on the conversation. He looked surprised at being included.

“A Paladin,” he said, and he bunched his lips to the side in a pout when Pidge giggled at him.

“He’s ALWAYS a Paladin,” she said as she looked up at him out of the corner of her eye with a wide grin. His cheeks warmed again.

“Being a Paladin’s fun,” he defended. Zethrid chuckled and shook her head.

“You’re a Paladin of Voltron. Wouldn’t the point of this game to be something you’re NOT?” she asked.

Coran nodded. “That’s what I told him!”

“Shiro, I dare you, just once, to try a different class,” Pidge said. She leaned against the left arm of her chair and looked up at him, challenge in her eyes. He looked down at her with more of a pout.

“Fine.”

“Wait, really?” Coran asked, eyebrows raised high. “All it took was a dare?”

Shiro glanced at Coran. There was a slight pain in his stomach as he thought, _“Only from Pidge.”_

“Yes,” Pidge hissed as she pumped her fist into the air. She sat straight again and smoothed her dress.

Shiro shook his head and crossed his arms. He looked around and listened in quietly as Coran and Hunk went off telling Zethrid about the last MnM game they’d played. Pidge chimed in now and then, but mostly she sat quietly as she attempted to sit like a proper lady. She hated not being able to curl up in her seat, but Allura had specifically asked her to “act civilized” that night.

She took a chance when Shiro turned to quietly talk to Keith to look him over. The high-collared Galran jacket looked really nice on him. It hugged his arms and chest in all the right places, while it seemed to still be easy to move in. She noticed the black glove on his right hand when he moved to grab his water, and wondered if it was his choice to conceal his metal arm or Lotor’s.

She turned away quickly when he looked back, and her face flushed when she met Allura’s eyes, a knowing twinkle hidden within them. Pidge pursed her lips at her friend and lowered her eyes to the empty plate in front of her. She kept her gaze down until waitstaff came around to serve an appetizer of diagonally-sliced, crisp bread slices with a deep green and spicy sauce. Pidge didn’t like it much, but let Hunk eat her dipping sauce while she nibbled slowly on the bread.

When a dinner of Triunian Yak roast and roasted vegetables was served, the table’s conversation turned to discussing an upcoming Alliance summit, which was public enough that Allura and Lotor deemed it appropriate for being spoken of in the open. Lotor, Acxa, Coran, Allura, Shiro, and Keith did most of the talking. Lance leaned his cheek on his hand as he picked at his dinner and only chimed in on occasion. Hunk quietly continued talking to Zethrid about Monsters and Mana, but both tried to still pay attention to the main conversation.

Pidge picked at what was left on her plate — a bunch of purple vegetables that tasted remarkably like peppers mixed with eggplant. She hated peppers. Eating just one had caused her to drain what was left of her water and her mouth still burned. She offered her plate first when servants came around to collect dishes and sat back in her chair. The conversation dragged on, and before long Pidge found herself yawning. She loved to know what was going on with their progress in restoring peace, but the politics of it all bored her to death.

The gentle music that had been playing throughout the evening slowly increased in volume and tempo, and Pidge perked up a bit. She picked at the edge of the lace tablecloth and tapped her foot to the beat.

“I think that’s enough work discussion for now,” Lotor said. He pushed his chair back from the table smoothly, stood up, and offered Allura a hand. “Would you care to dance, Princess?”

Pidge smirked wickedly when Allura’s cheeks darkened again. She gave her an encouraging look when the Princess’s eyes darted to her before she stood as well and gently placed her hand atop Lotor’s.

“Sure,” she said with a stutter, and looked back at Pidge one more time before being whisked away into the growing crowd of dancers.

Pidge sat high in her seat to follow their retreat until they disappeared among the Triun. Curiously, she leaned forward on the table on her elbows. The dance most of the Triun were performing seemed to have a three or six-step pattern to it. She watched like a hawk, determined to learn it. Lance and Ezor left not long after Allura and Lotor to dance, and Axca left after an Alliance friend came by to ask her to join them.

Shiro eyed Pidge as she watched the dancing in deep concentration. Once again, for someone who always proclaimed to enjoy sitting at her computer more than anything else, her fascination surprised him. He jumped at a sharp jab to his right side and turned to Keith. The Red Paladin smirked, nodded toward the dance floor, then jabbed his thumb to his left. Shiro frowned.

Pidge shifted in her seat to stretch her arms forward while arching her back. Shiro took a sip of his water to steady himself. Allura ran to the table with a wide smile on her face. She took Coran by the arm, urged him to his feet, and pulled him out to the dance floor. When they left, Shiro noticed Pidge let out a quiet sigh.

“Hey Pidge?” he asked as his shoulders tensed. She looked up at him with raised eyebrows and a bored expression. “Would you maybe… wanna dance? With me?”

His heart leapt to his throat when a blush swept across her cheeks. She looked away from him as a small smile appeared on her lips.

“Y-yeah. Sure,” she said. Her own heart fluttered like mad. Shiro relaxed a little and pushed away from the table to stand and offer Pidge his left hand. She stood slowly and smoothed her dress over her legs before she placed her right hand in his. Their eyes met for a split second before Pidge’s gaze darted away.

He led her around the table and into the crowd, realizing only when he turned back toward her that he’d started to tremble. He hadn’t danced once in years. He prayed he remembered enough to not humiliate Pidge — or worse, step on her feet.

She raised her left hand to meet his right, though, and moved her right hand to rest gingerly against the front of his shoulder. She met his eyes just long enough to let him know she was ready, and waited for him to start. He hesitated before placing his left hand onto her upper back and he began to lead her in a slow dance.

Shiro watched Pidge’s face as they moved together with fluid, practiced steps. The relaxed waltz came back to him easily enough, but it didn’t follow the beat. When the song changed over, Pidge urged him to watch the others, and they looked to their side as they danced, trying to match the dance of the locals.

“Sorry, Pidge. I haven’t danced in years,” he muttered when she narrowly avoided him stepping on her foot. She shook her head quickly.

“You’re doing fine. We’re learning a new dance on the go right now,” she told him. She moved her hand from his shoulder to the outside of his left arm so she could grab onto him more easily and help to guide him.

“You’re doing just fine,” he said. She smirked and glanced at him briefly.

“I’ve been watching them for a bit. Besides, I’ve been teaching myself dances for years.”

“You dance a lot in the training deck lately.”

Pidge flushed. She never really paid attention to whether the others watched her or not. “Yeah. I miss it. I miss Earth music. This is nice, but… it’s not the same.”

“What kind of music did you dance to on Earth?” Shiro asked. He adjusted his gloved hand against hers. Pidge pulled her hand away quickly, though, and wiped some sweat on her dress before returning it to his grasp.

“All kinds. I did all the classical things but then also just… improvised, I guess? With pop, hiphop… that kind of thing.”

Shiro smiled. “I never would have thought you’d be so into this.”

Pidge looked up at him and breathed in sharply. His smile was gentle and pulled at her heart, but his eyes gave no indication that he knew that back on Earth, he was her dance partner.

She let out her breath as she looked away. “Well, I am,” she said awkwardly. They remained quiet for a few moments as they worked on mimicking the movements of those around them. Shiro frowned as he started to wonder if he annoyed her with his comment. He let her pull her hands away to wipe sweat on her dress again before taking her back for the next song.

“Sorry… sweaty hands,” she murmured as she grabbed his arm again somewhat timidly. He chuckled.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. She looked up at him with doubt in her features. “Really.”

“Okay,” she sighed. He moved his left hand from her back to raise her chin and prompt her to look into his eyes again. His hand returned to her back, but his eyes held her gaze in place.

“You look beautiful tonight, by the way,” he stated. His stomach filled with nerves. He gave her a small, gentle smile when her face turned red.

Pidge turned away and laughed a little. She couldn’t help but grin widely.

“Th-thanks, Shiro. You look really handsome, too.”

She returned her gaze to his eyes as her heart pounded against her chest. Whether he was just being nice or genuinely meant it, it felt really good to hear those words from him again.

“Well… you always look beautiful, but it’s nice to see you dressed up, too,” he said, and immediately cursed himself for doing so. Pidge’s eyes widened a bit. Blushing furiously, she turned away again, stumbled in her next step, and caused Shiro to tighten his grasp on her to prevent her from falling. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she squeaked. She swallowed hard and looked down at their feet.

“Need to take a break?” Shiro asked.

“No,” she said quickly, ears burning. Her fingers curled around the sleeve of his jacket. Thankfully, with the effort of dancing and the searing hot blush that spread over what felt like her entire body, she was no longer chilly. The breeze that swept over them felt welcome as she tried to calm her swimming mind.

_“He’s just being nice. He’s just being nice. He doesn’t actually think that,”_ she chanted to herself. Her lips formed the words inaudibly as she stared down at the hard stone ground.

Shiro cautiously returned to leading their dance. He was flushed, too, so he was glad that Pidge had averted her gaze. He’d wanted to tell her she was beautiful for months. Her reaction then made him confident that she appreciated it, but he wasn’t sure she fully believed him. He wondered if she knew how often his gaze was drawn to her on a daily basis.

“I used to dance a lot, on Earth,” Shiro said with a shaking voice, to try and pull her attention away from the ground. He could tell he had her attention by the way her body tensed at his words. “I took classes and was in a club when I was younger, but kind of stopped when I was in the Garrison.”

Pidge resisted the urge to say, _“I know. But then you danced with me.”_ She looked up at him with a little smile. She could feel the color hadn’t left her cheeks, but hoped he would pass it off as being flushed from movement.

“Do you miss it?”

“Yeah. I do, actually, now that I’m dancing with you.”

Pidge’s expression softened. Her right hand slowly moved back up to his shoulder and she moved a step closer to him. “You can dance with me whenever you want, you know.”

Surprise filled Shiro’s face, and his right hand squeezed her left gently. “Really?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, Pidge. I’ve… kind of wanted to for a while now.”

Her mouth tightened into a flustered grin. “What? Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he said, voice and expression soft. “When you’re dancing at training.”

“You should’ve just done it.”

“I didn’t want to interrupt you. Or… weird you out.”

Pidge snorted. “Why would that weird me out?”

“I don’t know… we’re teammates. I wasn’t sure you’d wanna be close to me like that.”

There was a painful, sharp pang in Pidge’s heart at his words. She sighed longingly as she looked into his eyes with a bit of hurt in her own.

“We’re… friends, Shiro,” she corrected, though the term stung her a bit as well. “Good friends, in my opinion. You don’t even have to ask. If you just came up and started to dance with me, I wouldn’t push you away.”

He smiled, only slightly, but Pidge’s heart fluttered like mad at the way his eyes smiled even more. She quickly pulled her left hand back to wipe it off, and Shiro’s gaze shifted to their hands as he laced his fingers with hers.

She swallowed hard, curling her fingers around his hand and stepping a little closer yet. He adjusted his left hand a bit lower on her back.

“Can I… tell you something else that may also be a bit weird?” Shiro asked. Pidge quirked an eyebrow up at him as she stepped backward with her right foot, then her left, and turned in her next step to the right as Shiro guided her.

“Sure,” she said curiously. Her other brow rose to match the first when he raised his head and looked far to the side to avoid her gaze.

“I’ve um… dreamed of dancing with you a lot, too,” he said in a voice just loud enough for her to hear. Pidge stumbled in her step again and Shiro stiffened his grasp. He looked to see that she was alright and noticed her face was red again. He wondered if it was a good or bad thing.

“Really…?” she asked. Her voice shook and her heart felt like it had stopped in her chest, but she could hear it in the pounding of her eardrums.

“Yeah,” Shiro cleared his throat. “Usually after I see you dancing in the training deck. But… it’s weird. Your hair’s a lot longer like in the pictures Matt showed me of you on Earth, and it’s always some complicated, intricate dance. But we’re both having a lot of fun.”

Pidge felt like there was a frog in her throat. She couldn’t swallow properly. Her eyes stung and she looked down at their feet again as her vision blurred. She closed her eyes tightly for just a second as she took in a deep breath, and opened them to watch as Shiro’s feet paused. She stopped her movements immediately after and exhaled slowly.

Trembling, she looked up at Shiro and croaked, “Actually, can we take that break now? I think I need some water.”

Shiro nodded. He released her and took a step away to allow Pidge to look around for their table. She took off through the crowd and he followed her at a brisk walk.

Keith looked up at them as they approached. He’d slid down to Pidge’s seat so he could talk with Hunk and Zethrid at the end of the table.

Pidge met his eyes briefly as she raced toward him. He grinned at her teasingly at first, but it vanished immediately when he noticed her expression — eyes wide and mouth a thin line, and looking like she’d seen a ghost.

“Having fun?” Hunk asked as they approached their seats. Shiro nodded and grabbed a water pitcher from the center of the table so he could fill his and Pidge’s glasses.

Pidge slid her arms quickly around Keith’s shoulders from behind and pressed her face into the back of his hair. He tensed and raised his hand to place it comfortingly on her forearm.

“Be right back, guys,” Keith muttered. He slid from his seat, still holding onto Pidge’s arm, and pulled her toward the stage.

He turned to her in front of the wooden platform, but when he saw her take deep, steady breaths, her body shaking, he led her up top instead. He pulled back the curtain so they could go into the dark backstage and put his hands gently on her arms once he was sure they were alone.

“Are you okay? What happened? You’re shaking,” he said, concerned. Pidge looked into his eyes as she floundered for words.

“He… I, um….” she stammered and reached two trembling hands up to run through her hair. Keith squeezed her upper arms to encourage her to calm down and continue. “He told me that… he dreamed about dancing with me. O-on Earth.”

Keith felt his own breath hitch in his chest. He leaned down a bit to be level with Pidge’s face and caressed her cheek gently. She lowered her eyebrows and began to chew on her upper lip.

“He remembered,” Keith whispered. Pidge nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected twist

“You promised.”

“I did no such thing.”

“I was there, Shiro, you did,” Hunk said, tossing the twenty-sided die into the air repeatedly to catch it. He missed and it fell onto the game board, knocking over Lance’s player piece.

“Hey,” Lance whined, and he reached to set his thief back on its feet.

“Come on Shiro. Just make something else. Anything else but a Paladin,” Pidge urged. She sat on her knees next to him with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Leaning toward him, she stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.

Shiro raised his eyebrows and looked down at her skeptically. His cheeks turned a little more pink as she leaned in closer. “Okay, but if I’m not a Paladin, our team will be out of balance.”

“I’m a Paladin,” Keith grinned mischievously, turning his gamepad to Shiro to show the beginnings of his character creation. Shiro’s eyebrows slammed down into a thin line and he glared at Keith from beneath them. Keith shrugged and the hand holding his gamepad nearly whipped it into Lance’s face.

“Watch it!” Lance said, ducking away. Keith pulled his arm back and gave Lance an apology and Shiro one last amused glance before returning to making his profile.

“Bard, monk, ranger, thief, druid, barbarian, warrior, or sorcerer.” Coran listed the classes off on his fingers, sitting on the edge of his seat. He slid to the edge of his seat and clutched the edge with white knuckles to watch as Shiro thought over the classes, eager to see which he picked.

“What is everyone else?” Shiro asked, looking around at his friends.

“It doesn’t matter. Just pick what you want to play, Shiro,” Allura said. As Shiro opened his mouth to retort, she added, “Except a Paladin.”

He pouted. Pidge snickered to herself as she sat upright and pulled her blanket more tightly around her shoulders before wiggling her arms out the bottom, taking her own gamepad, and looking down at her choices. She selected thief, something she hadn’t yet tried, and, grinning and thinking about their lions, made herself the catlike race, a Leona.

“Hey, guys,” Matt said from the doorway. Everyone rounded on him, all seven faces breaking into big smiles.

“MATT!” Pidge cried. She dropped her gamepad on the couch and scrambled from her blanket, got tangled up in the fabric, and fell over the back of the couch on her way to hug her brother. Shiro snorted in amusement at her and leaned over to watch her jump into Matt’s arms.

“Hey, Katie. What’re you guys up to?” he asked as he lifted her off her feet and swung her in a circle. He set her down and she snatched his hand before dragging him back to her spot.

“It’s called Monsters and Mana! It’s like DnD, but better. Matt, come play!” she exclaimed. She jumped back down into her spot and yanked Matt down next to her. He plopped onto the couch and blinked curiously at the orange gamepad that Coran handed to him across the table.

“Huh. Really, DnD?”

“Yeah! It’s like virtual reality DnD,” Hunk said from Matt’s other side. He leaned toward Matt to point at the screen of his device. “Here, you use this button to start character creation, and from there, it’s pretty easy to follow.”

Matt nodded, his eyebrows raising high as he immediately scoured the gamepad for information.

Shiro sighed heavily and sank deeper into the couch as he stared at the class options, unsure of what to choose.

“Poor Matt gets here after weeks away and can’t even settle in properly.” Lance clicked his tongue. “You want something to drink, dude?”

Matt looked up at Lance with a crooked grin. “Sure. Thanks.”

Lance nodded and set his gamepad on the floor behind the couch, crawling over and walking toward the hallway. He stopped to look over his shoulder. “Anyone else need anything?”

“Another space Capri Sun, please?” Keith asked, holding up his empty packet.

“They’re called Juri Fruit Juice, not ‘Capri Sun’. Honestly, where are you all even getting that? There’s nothing from a sun in them,” Coran said with an indignant huff. He glowered at his Lore Master pad to continue setting up his story. The Paladins exchanged amused looks.

“Ready yet, Shiro?” Pidge asked as she folded her legs beneath her and pulled her blanket back over her shoulders. He pouted at her and returned to looking at his gamepad.

“I’m ready.” Matt slid his pad onto the table and mimicked Pidge’s position. She lifted the right side of her blanket and smirked when he slid closer to her, draping it over his shoulder as well.

“You don’t have to think too hard about it,” Keith said. He leaned against the back of the couch and put his arm where Lance’s gamepad lay. He resisted the urge to look back and see what Lance had done with his character — they all preferred to keep it a surprise until they started. He turned back and grinned when Shiro sighed dramatically and pulled his legs up on the couch in front of him, leaning back and finally starting to create a character.

“That’ll do it,” Coran said with a wicked grin. He let out a high-pitched giggle and set his LM pad onto his lap, bouncing in place. “You’re all in for a real treat this time.”

“Anyone want any snacks before we start?” Hunk asked. He leaned across Matt and Pidge to see Shiro deep in concentration as he worked on his profile. “I think I have time to go help Lance.”

“Snacks may be nice. Sounds like Coran’s going to have us here for a while,” Allura mused. She crossed her legs as Hunk stood and hurried from the room. She looked to her left to smile at Keith, who returned it cheerfully. It was good to have team downtime and relax around a game. They always felt better afterwards.

“Here you go, Keef,” Lance said as he hopped back down into his spot over Keith’s arm. Keith reached up for the juice packet with a small thanks, sitting up straight as Lance settled back into the couch and tossed another Juri Juice across the table to Matt. “Where’s Hunk?”

“Grabbing snacks,” Allura said. “You didn’t see him in the hall?”

“Nope. But I ran to my room quick,” Lance shrugged. He poked the straw into his own juice packet and reached for his gamepad, setting it on his lap as he looked around at his friends. “How you doing, Shiro?”

“Fine,” Shiro said, though he sounded a bit stressed out.

“Make yourself a khajiit,” Matt teased as he threw his arm over Pidge’s shoulders. She snorted and Shiro glared at his friend.

“There aren’t khajiits.”

“There’s Leonas,” Pidge grinned at him. Shiro quirked an eyebrow as he scrolled through the races.

“You just want me to be a furry,” he accused Matt. Lance choked on his juicebox.

“HEY,” he said, and Keith rolled to the side on the couch as he burst out laughing. Pidge bounced in her seat with a grin plastered on her face as she remembered all the teasing she gave Shiro back in the day for his love of being the catlike race in Elder Scrolls.

“What in the universe is a furry?” Allura asked. She quirked an eyebrow at Keith, who was still having a laughing fit on the couch. “Do I want to know?”

“Just because it’s fun to be an animal character does NOT mean I’m a furry. Besides, I’m sure they’re very nice people,” Lance pouted and crossed his arms. Keith laughed even more.

“Why’s Keith losing it?” Hunk asked as he wandered in the room with a tray full of snacks. He returned to his seat and passed out packets of crispy puffcorn and cookies.

“Lance is a furry.” Pidge smirked. Lance made a loud, exasperated noise.

“Oh, well, yeah, that’s a given,” Hunk teased. He folded his legs beneath him on the couch and shared an amused grin with Pidge and Matt while Keith tried to pull himself together.

“Okay, I think I’m ready,” Shiro said. He set his gamepad on the couch beside him so he could open the bag of cookies Pidge had snuck onto his lap. He rested his arm on one knee and shoved a tiny cookie into his mouth and watching as his friends picked up their gamepads and settled comfortably into their spots.

“Alright,” Coran said excitedly. “I’ve received all of your character profiles and put them into the story. All you need to do is hit the final confirmation and we’re good to go.” He scanned the room as the others lifted their pads to hit the OK buttons and rubbed his hands together quickly.

Coran cleared his throat, adjusted his seating, and began in a dramatic voice, “After a tragic incident wherein the village you were staying in for the night was attacked, you have all ended up lost and scattered in the woods and beyond. Alone and with only the equipment you could carry on your person, you set out to find food, shelter, and your allies.” He looked around. “Shiro, your turn first.”

“Wait, wait. Why does this always start in a tragedy. Why not like, we’re having a parade to praise our efforts at rescuing the village?” Lance asked. He set his gamepad and juice packet on the table’s edge, crossing his arms.

Keith sighed. “Lance, Coran’s the LM, just let him do what he wants. You could always create the story instead if you’re unhappy,” Keith said.

Lance threw his arms out as he opened his mouth to retort, and his juice flew onto the center of the table, spraying liquid everywhere. Pidge, Hunk, and Matt shot forward in a reflex to stop it, but the table sparked angrily as the liquid seeped in.

“Oops,” Lance reached for his juice and set it down on the outer rim of the table again before picking up his gamepad and trying to use his sleeve to mop up the liquid. He seemed to make it worse, though, as the table fizzed and flashed. Coran moved to help, but in a second, he fell back onto his seat.

“CORAN!” Allura exclaimed, diving toward him. His gamepad blinked as she reached for his shoulder, but she soon collapsed next to him as well, her own orange pad falling from her hand and bouncing on the couch. Shiro dove to his left to shake Coran’s shoulder, only to collapse on the man’s lap, game pad still clutched in his left hand. Pidge and Matt fell next, crumpled in a heap together beneath Pidge’s blanket, and Keith was out cold before he could reach out to help. Hunk, wide eyed and panicked, looked between each of his friends before he, too, fell back onto the couch beside Lance, who only was able to shout half his friend’s name before slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

“Ugh, my head.” Pidge’s body argued with her as she sat up. She groaned and stretched her arms forward, squeezed her eyes shut, and ran her hands through her bangs. She paused at the center of her head when she came into contact with an obstacle. A knot in her hair? She slid her fingers along the obstruction, eyebrows raising in curiosity as she felt a pair of fleshy but furry ears protruding upward, blending in perfectly with her hair. Her eyes shot open after her hands whipped down to the sides of her head, only to feel no human ears. “What the FUCK?”

Her voice echoed. With wild eyes, she finally noticed that instead of the castle’s lounge, she was surrounded by a forest of shrubbery and towering, dark trees. A damp morning breeze cut across her skin. She shivered. Reaching up and expecting her blanket, she found her shoulders bare save for a few thin, tight pieces of fabric over her upper arms. She looked around tentatively and struggled to her feet.

“Where… am I?” she asked, rubbing her lower back as she took in the landscape. The thick forest appeared to go on for miles, but it could’ve been just a trick of the light. She reached up again to toy with her new ears, trying to clear her mind and think of what could possibly have happened.

Pidge sighed and looked down at herself. A thick leather vest ended at her midriff, and she wore baggy, deep violet trousers. Her feet were bare and she had fingerless sleeves over her wrists. Reaching to her back, she felt two scabbards crossed over her shoulder blades.

“Am I in… Monsters and Mana?” she asked, her mind clearing just enough to remember how she set up her character. “But this is… so much more real than before.”

She began to push through the brush, taking careful steps through the woods. Occasionally she’d sneeze, cursing the plants around her for activating her allergies and wondering why in a game she’d even still be subjected to them. The forest grew a bit darker as she walked, and Pidge reached behind her to pull one of the weapons from its casing and held it tightly in her right hand. “It’s just like my bayard but with a different handle. I’ll be fine.”

It seemed like hours had gone by as she pushed through bushes, curled tentatively around tall trees, and tried her best to stifle her sneezes. Her stomach growled painfully and she scrunched up in annoyance as she remembered Coran’s introductory story. There had to be a village around here somewhere where she could steal a bite to eat. Or maybe she could hunt something down.

She froze mid-step as she heard some rustling in the brush behind her, and quickly dove into a bush, a branch cutting shallowly across her cheek. Eyes wide, she peeked through the leaves, wondering if it was friend or foe.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips when Shiro’s face broke through the trees. He wore a long, black cloak, a white shirt and black trousers beneath. A long, grizzled staff was clutched in his left hand and he was using it as a walking stick as he carefully picked through the terrain.

“So you chose sorcerer,” Pidge muttered. A grin spread across her lips. She waited for him to pass her hiding place before quietly slipping out. “Shiro!”

He rounded on her, holding up his staff in defense, the end glowing a bright white. Pidge quickly dropped her dagger onto the ground and waved her hands frantically in front of her.

“Stop! Stop Shiro, it’s just me!” she said. It took him only a second before he lowered his staff, letting out a held breath.

“Pidge,” he said with a sigh. “Finally, I found someone.”

She hurriedly picked up her dagger and put it into its scabbard on her back, prancing toward him on light footing. “How long since you woke up?”

“I’m not sure. It feels like forever.” He reached into his hood to rub at the back of his head, causing the fabric to fall to his shoulders. A sly grin spread across Pidge’s face.

“Nice ponytail.”

“Nice ears.”

“Touché.” Pidge pouted. She crossed her arms as Shiro chuckled into his hand and pulled his hood back up with the other, his staff resting in the crook of his elbow. “So… any idea what happened? This is… way more immersive than any of our past games.”

“While I was walking I remembered. Lance spilled his space Capri Sun on the table. It must have made it malfunction. Not sure about why we’re here, but it’s probably something similar to when the Castle went haywire,” Shiro explained. He reached forward to flick at one of Pidge’s large cat ears. “Can you hear out of those?”

Pidge pulled away with a glare, but pushed the hair at the side of her head back enough so Shiro could see that she no longer had human ears. He blinked a few times, then his eyebrows slowly rose, lips gradually spreading into a grin, and before Pidge could even blink, he turned away, bursting into a fit of laughter into his hands. She crossed her arms, eyes icy as she waited for him to finish.

“You about done?” she asked after he doubled over and dropped his staff to clutch at his stomach.

“I’m sorry, I just… can’t believe… you have real cat ears.” He giggled into his sleeve, and Pidge strode over to him to raise her foot and kick him in the hip, causing him to fall over and into the grass. He continued laughing from the ground, and Pidge picked up his staff. She poked him in the side with it until he managed to quell the laughter.

“We should go find the others. Preferably Lance first, so I can kill him before anyone can stop me,” Pidge said. She held his staff out for him so he could use it to stand back up, and helped him wipe grass from his cloak.

“You’re not killing Lance. Maim him, maybe, but no killing,” Shiro said as he rubbed a hand over his face. “We should actually try to find shelter or food first. Assuming we’re stuck in some type of virtual reality for the time being, I’m going to guess we’ll need to actually survive.”

“You think?” Pidge asked curiously. She reached up to tap at the stinging feeling on her cheek, earning a bit of dried blood on her fingers from the scratch the bush gave her. It seemed to be fine for the time being, so she wiped her fingers on her trousers and took off walking through the grass toward an open meadow. Shiro followed her slowly, using his staff as a walking stick. “So a sorcerer, huh?”

“You wanted me to be something different,” Shiro said with a huff. Pidge giggled.

“You’ll have fun. I can’t remember, did you always play as a fighter class in MMOs?” she asked. She paused in her tracks to look back at him innocently, quickly adding, “Matt said you guys played ESO and WoW all the time.”

“No, I didn’t. But those were just games.”

“So’s Monsters and Mana.”

“Yeah, well. I really enjoy being a Paladin now. Plain and simple.”

Pidge pushed her lips to the side at his adamancy. “I’m sorry for making you choose something different, then. We all just kind of thought you were afraid of trying something new.”

“Not really. I just know what I like. But it’s fine. Trying new things is an adventure. And this time, apparently, it’s quite literal.” Shiro chuckled. He paused to glance back at her as he’d passed her by quite a few yards. “You coming?”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, hurriedly tamping through the grass to catch up. She kept by his side as they walked. She was relieved that he didn’t ask her how she knew about them playing games. She’d joined them quite a few times back then, but usually it was just Shiro and Matt playing.

“Hang on,” Shiro said, and he whipped his right arm out to stop her. Pidge paused in her tracks, looking down at his hand with a stunned look. It was white and shimmery, like it was ethereal. She wanted to reach out to see if her own hand could go through it, but her gaze followed Shiro’s instead to see a bipedal lizard creature sneaking its way through the grass toward them.

“What are the chances, do you think, that one of the guys made a lizard-race?” Pidge asked as she reached slowly to her back to withdraw both of her daggers. Shiro grasped his staff in both hands as he made a doubtful grunt.

The monster rose its head above the grass, and, seeing both of them prepared to fight, it broke into a swift run toward them. It brandished its pike toward them with force as it screamed at them with wide-open jaws featuring a double row of tiny, pointed teeth.

Shiro quickly stepped in front of Pidge to shield her. Pidge screamed in alarm at him, but she took a step back as he summoned a fireball between the staff and his ghostly right hand, launching it toward the creature and managing to hit it square in the chest. Pidge broke around Shiro and charged toward it when she saw it wasn’t done in.

“Pidge, stop!” Shiro called after her, rushing forward as he charged up another spell. She ran in a half-circle around the lizard-man, though, and cut sharply toward its backside, twirling slightly as she sliced it from shoulder to hip. With a hiss, it staggered forward and collapsed first to its knees then its face. In a puff of smoke, it vanished, being replaced by a small cloth pouch.

“Yep, just like Monsters and Mana,” Pidge said, standing straight. She looked at her daggers and made a face at the slimy green blood on one, bending down to wipe both sides on the grass. “But messier.”

Shiro chuckled a bit and crouched down to pick up the little sack and look inside. “Hey, a silver. Not a bad start.” He held the coin out to Pidge, but she tapped at her clothes lamely to show him she had no pockets. He gave her a crooked grin, flicked it with his thumb into the air, caught it, and tucked it into the deep pocket of his cloak.

“Continue on?” Pidge asked, sheathing just one dagger and keeping one out just in case. Shiro nodded, playing with the tan satchel as he followed Pidge through the meadow.

“Would it be against the rules to use this as a coin purse?” Shiro asked, holding it out to Pidge. She looked back at it curiously.

“Surprised it didn’t disappear,” she said, taking it from him and looking it over. She stretched it a bit before using the thin leather cord to tie it onto the wrappings her pants were held up by. “We’ll see if it lasts like this, but I don’t wanna put anything valuable in it yet. Maybe it’s a basic bag drop.”

Shiro nodded and continued walking silently. Gradually, he let Pidge a few paces ahead of him so he could keep an eye on her back. He knew her more than well enough to know that she’d probably try to take on any enemies without hesitation. In a normal game situation, he’d be perfectly fine with that, but there was something about the way he could feel the wind against his skin and the crunch of grass beneath his boots that made him feel like they were actually, physically, inside the game world. And if they were, there was a very good possibility that if they were to get seriously hurt there, they’d be hurt in real life as well.

Pidge looked back at him with a wide grin, snapping him from his thoughts. She pointed ahead to a stream before taking off in a run toward it. He followed her hastily, slowing on the rock bed and stopping at the edge of the water. He watched as Pidge knelt on the ground, raising some water in cupped hands to sniff and cautiously taste it to see if it was safe to consume. The hairs raised on the back of his neck as he thought of what would happen if it weren’t.

“Seems fine. Drink up, Shiro,” she said and tipped handfuls of water against her lips. He set down his staff as he went to his knees as well, and pushed back his hood before cupping water into his own hands. He greedily drank a few handfuls before copying Pidge in washing his face and neck.

“Too bad we haven’t got anything to carry some with us,” Pidge said as she sat back on her feet. He hummed in agreement, collapsing onto his backside and draping his forearms across his knees. They looked at their surroundings in peaceful silence for a few moments. The entirety of the horizon behind them held the thick forest where they’d emerged, but across the stream and as far as they could see were flowery plains. Tiny dots moved in the distance and they wondered if they were all monsters waiting to pounce, or if any of them could be their friends.

“Where do you think the others are?” Pidge asked as she looked over her freckled shoulder at Shiro. He shrugged.

“Not sure if we’d all have ended up back in the forest or in different parts of the zone.”

“Zone?” Pidge quirked her lips upward. Shiro met her eyes.

“Well, we’re in a game. I assume, at least — I don’t know why else you’d have cat ears,” he grinned as her face deadpanned at him again. “So yeah, I assume we’re in a zone-like world that has edges. It can’t be TOO large. I wouldn’t think, anyway.”

“So what exactly do you think is going on?” Pidge asked. Her hand busied itself in her curly hair again, forehead wrinkling just a bit when she felt how her ears were attached to her skull. “You seem to be really calm, Shiro.”

He shrugged and gave her a crooked grin. “To be quite honest, this isn’t the first freaky thing that’s happened to us. I’m just kind of taking it as it comes.” Pidge blinked at him curiously while continuing to grope her head. “I assume, if the game malfunctioned… we’ll have to beat the story to get out. Or, I mean, we’re stuck here forever. Either-or.”

Pidge let out a harsh laugh, looking back to the stream and leaning down to take another quick drink. “How about we follow this for a while and see where it leads? Hopefully the others will have managed to make their way here, too,” she suggested.

Shiro nodded and cracked his back. “It’d be nice if we could find something to eat,” he admitted as his stomach gave a dull growl.

Pidge moaned in agreement.

Shiro picked up his staff and set it between some stones on the ground before using it to hoist himself up. He offered Pidge his left hand and she took it, allowing Shiro to whisk her back on her feet. “So, you’re a thief?” he asked as they started to walk downstream. Pidge nodded while cringing against the feeling of stones on her bare feet.

“I hadn’t tried this class yet, and Lance always has a ton of fun.”

“Wasn’t Lance also a thief?”

“Yeah. Party’s big enough, so it shouldn’t matter. Well, we’re split up right now, anyway, so it REALLY doesn’t matter.”

Shiro hummed and looked up at the pale blue sky. A few clouds swam overhead, but otherwise the weather looked clear. He reached out to rub Pidge’s head teasingly, folding her ears down and mussing up her bangs. She ducked away, not glaring at him but grinning, playfully pushing him in the side with a spring in her step.

“Do you think we level up here still, then?” she asked.

“Possibly. I got a strange feeling after we fought that last thing. I don’t know how to explain it. Like… mist? All over my body. Maybe that’s what experience feels like to game characters,” he said, cheeks flushing a bit when he looked to see Pidge giving him an amused look.

“I didn’t notice any of that, but I guess I was just focusing on killing it,” she said, reaching her right hand over her back to toy at the handle of one of her daggers. “I’d say if we see anything weak-looking, we should go ahead and attack, try to gain a few levels and get loot. Who knows, maybe something will drop food.”

Shiro chuckled at the thought. He tightened the grasp on his staff with his right hand, looking down at it at the same time. His expression tensed and he tore his eyes away to look ahead.

Keith was a Paladin, or at least he said, so he should have a sword and be perfectly in his element for defending himself. Shiro would prefer to find him and be sure he was okay, of course, but out of all of them, he was the most confident that Keith would be alright. Assuming everyone had woken up in the game world separately like he and Pidge did, they would have to be searching for their friends or shelter as well.

Allura and Matt he also didn’t worry too much about. Allura was a very skilled fighter and had tons of common sense. Shiro had no doubts in his mind that she would immediately figure out what had happened to them. He could only imagine how worried Matt would be about his sister, so he was definitely out looking for her. That left Coran, Lance, and Hunk. Hunk was smart, but easily scared and easily distracted, so there could be reason to worry about him. Lance would more likely put himself in danger than stay out of it — and if Pidge found him before Shiro had a chance to restrain her, he was sure she’d attempt to stab him through with one of her daggers. And Coran… he typically made himself the bad guy in their Monsters and Mana adventures.

Shiro chewed his bottom lip thinking of having to fight Coran. Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt him in the real world if Shiro was right about their survival in the game being important to the survival of their actual bodies.

“Shiro, look,” Pidge said excitedly. She skipped on her toes back to the water’s edge. The stream had deepened, but they could see fish beneath the crystal blue surface. He raised his eyebrows in interest and followed her to the shore, wondering how they could catch some, but burst out laughing when Pidge swatted into the water with her dagger.

“Shut up,” she said. She slid the handle of her weapon between her teeth before hiking her trousers up from her knees to her thighs, rolling them tightly to keep them there so she could wade more deeply into the water. Shiro grasped his staff with both hands and leaned heavily against it. He pressed his cheek against the side of his arm as he watched Pidge try to either spear or catch the fish with her bare hands. His gaze softened.

“I GOT ONE!” she cried, squirming in place as she struggled to keep hold of the wriggling fish. She hurriedly threw it onto shore. Shiro jumped as it flopped on the rocks by his feet. Lips puckered momentarily, he thought of how to best stop its movement. Lifting his staff, he gently smacked it in the head. “Harsh, Shiro.”

“What? Do you want it to jump back in the water?” he asked defensively. Pidge pouted at him before turning back to try and catch another. He shook his head. “I’m gonna run back over to the forest and get some firewood so we can cook, alright?”

“Please don’t wander too far,” she said, head ducked toward the water. He nodded and eyed the fish on the ground before adjusting his cloak and taking off toward the treeline in a brisk run.

By the time he’d returned, Pidge had a smug look on her face as she sat on the shore beside her collection of four fish. He shook his head, dropped a bundle of sticks onto the ground, and waited for Pidge to organize them into a pile before concentrating on a fire spell to light a small bonfire. Pidge took the two sticks she left out and unceremoniously speared two fish on each, making a disturbed face at the feeling and sound. Shiro plopped onto the ground again and set his staff down as he watched her settle their skewers between a pile of rocks strong enough to hold them over the flames.

“Fair warning, I suck at camping,” Pidge said flatly. He snorted.

“You just caught four fish with your bare hands, and you’re telling me you’re bad at camping?” he said doubtfully. She rolled her eyes.

“I felt that misty feeling you were talking about. It was like… how I imagine fairy dust would feel. I even kind of felt this surgence of warmth after the fifth, which sadly, I dropped,” she said, pulling her knees to her chest. “Maybe I gained a fishing level.”

Shiro gave her a crooked grin. “Good work, Pidge.”

She smiled a little toward the flame, but he could tell it was meant for him. He leaned back on his hands and watched the sky as they sat in silence waiting for their meal to be done. Pidge used her daggers to scrape scales off the fish before handing Shiro a stick. They ate in comfortable silence, both extremely satisfied that their stomachs were no longer turning in hunger. It wasn’t a great meal, but definitely needed.

“It’s already getting dark,” Pidge said dreamily as she stared across the stream. She hugged her knees close as she tried to recover from the long afternoon of walking. “I wonder if time passes more quickly here.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Shiro said. “Come on, we should probably at least find a safe place to camp in case we need to rest.”

They both took long drinks from the stream again before walking until they found a shallow enough part to cross. Pidge waded through while Shiro carefully jumped from large rock to rock, not particularly wanting sopping wet leather boots. Night fell, and crickets chirped around them as they pushed through grass that nearly reached Pidge’s shoulders.

They had a few more monster encounters. A pair of opaque blue, levitating, jellyfish-like creatures sprung from the grass, and Shiro tried to take them out with fireballs, to no avail; Pidge had to use her daggers on them and collected a few squishy tokens and copper pieces afterward. She pranced to Shiro and shoved it all into his cloak pocket, causing Shiro to roll his eyes in amusement at her.

The next were sentient rock creatures which Shiro’s fireballs caused to explode in a flurry of bright ashes — they dropped a few dark stones which Pidge insisted could be worth money. After taking down one more bipedal lizard creature, they turned to look at one another with giant grins. Both could feel the strange warmth Pidge had spoken of before.

“Level up!” they chanted in unison, high-fiving with a victorious laugh. They hurried toward their target and sighed in relief when Shiro’s theory was right — there was an overhang of rock and dead shrubs just large enough to provide them with shelter in case it rained and some protection from predatory eyes. They hurried to gather some firewood before settling down on the rocky ground, and Shiro lit another fire with his magic.

“How are you feeling?” he asked as he cracked his neck.

Pidge yawned widely but shrugged. “I’m tired, but honestly? Still pretty excited from gaining a level,” she admitted. “You wanna sleep for a few hours, and we’ll switch? One of us should probably keep watch in case we’re attacked or something.”

“You sure you’re okay with first watch?” he asked. Pidge nodded, giving him a little smile.

“I wish we had something to eat again, but it’ll be easier to find food in the daylight,” she said. Shiro nodded in agreement and undid the brooch holding his cloak closed. He pulled it from his shoulders, bunched it up in his arms, and lay down while pushing the fabric under his head. Pidge’s expression eased as she watched him stretch out and try to get comfortable. The glimmery white arm that had replaced his Galran prosthetic provided a faint glow on his face as he snuggled into his cloak. Was the change a result of the game’s genre, or did Shiro include something specific about it into his story that caused it?

Pidge wondered if they were even supposed to follow their story. For her own, she made it vague — she was on a quest to recover something she’d lost that was important to her. She frowned and looked into the fire. It was a pointless quest, and she had had no intention of winning it. Her loss was Shiro and his memory. There was no way that was going to happen during the game, especially with all their friends around. She knew she wouldn’t even reveal what it was if they’d asked. But it had been the only thing on her mind since the Triunia gala, when to her bewilderment, she’d discovered that Shiro was likely beginning to regain memories of her.

Did he have any clue that his dreams of dancing with her were likely all real? But then again, maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were just dreams based on the memories, like his mind wanted to remember but couldn’t come up with the details. She wished she hadn’t freaked out while dancing with him and could have taken the time to ask him to describe what went on in them. She shook her head and looked away from the flame and back to Shiro. He was sound asleep already.

“What else have you remembered?” Pidge asked, voice barely a whisper as she fell back onto her hands, looking up at the twinkling stars above. Were the dancing dreams the only ones he had? Did he ever think about her while he was awake and think nothing of the thoughts other than they were a product of his imagination? She closed her eyes for a long time, face still turned toward the heavens, and took in steady, deep breaths of cool night air, the smell of their bonfire soothing her only slightly. She gazed up at the stars.

 

_  
_

_“Come on, Katie,” Shiro hissed through the dark. She could just barely make out his wide grin against the glow of the microwave’s numbers._

_“Where are we going?” Katie asked. She tightened her grip on Shiro’s hand and couldn’t pull back a smile when he unlocked the back door. He pushed her through first, following her without releasing her hand, and closed the door silently behind them._

_“Just out here. Let’s watch the stars,” he said. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and Katie felt herself relax against his chest, her heart thumping excitedly at the return of his embrace. He rocked her from side to side for a few seconds before planting a small kiss on the top of her head and leading her further into the yard by her shoulders. Katie stopped when he stopped, twirling in her spot in time to watch him sink to the ground and flop onto his back with a soft “Oof.”_

_She fell to her knees and gave him a smirk. “Is the grass wet?” she asked, trying to feel whether it was seeping through the knees of her jeans or not. He groped the blades of grass and shook his head and with one fluid movement, Katie turned and dropped onto her back beside him. He reached his left hand up without looking to caress her cheek but gently bonked her in the nose instead._

_“Shirooo,” she whined, but a small laugh accompanied it. He laughed too as he sat up just enough to turn and kiss the tip of her nose in apology. He fell back to the ground and instead groped around for her right hand, entwining his fingers with hers and raising their fists to the sky._

_“There, you’re a constellation,” he said softly. His hand wiggled hers so her bracelet jingled against her thin wrist, the silver star charms glimmering in the moonlight. Katie’s cheeks flushed._

_“You’re a dork.”_

_“You love me.”_

_“I do,” she said. He squeezed her hand in reply and she heard him let out a happy sigh. Their hands sunk between them, still laced together between their shoulders. Shiro started pointing out constellations to her, naming them off in turn, and Katie joined in with enthusiasm. They named every one visible in the sky before listing off individual stars, laughing quietly and pushing against each other playfully as they raced to say each name first._

_“One day I’m going to name a star after you,” Shiro said when they’d tired of their game. His thumb treaded circles on the back of her hand. “But I have to find the perfect one first.”_

_“You don’t have to do anything else for me,” Katie insisted, but her heart fluttered anyway. “You already do too much.”_

_“You’re worth it. You’re worth everything,” Shiro said. He stretched his right hand toward the sky, flexing his fingers and looking at the grayscale braided bracelet around his wrist before letting his arm fall limply into the grass. “So don’t tell me to stop because I’m going to spoil you forever.”_

_“Forever?” Katie turned to him with laughter in her features._

_He laughed, head tossing back a little in the grass. He squeezed her hand gently again._

_“I’ll love you forever, too. Forever and ever.”_

 

 

Pidge snapped from her thoughts when Shiro moaned just a bit in his sleep. Her head slowly lowered and she looked toward him with a glazed expression. He pressed his face into his cloak with a little whimper and Pidge’s eyes focused more. She sat forward, lowering her knees and watching as he tossed quickly to his other side.

She frowned and turned to the fire, but her attention was quickly drawn back when Shiro let out more moans of distress. Her eyebrows furrowed tightly and slowly she rolled to her knees, crawling toward him with caution.

She paused near the top of his head and reached out a hand to touch his hair, but quickly withdrew when he tossed sharply in the other direction again. Pidge took in a deep breath. He was definitely having a nightmare. She waited for a calm in his twisting before reaching for his shoulders and tucking her hands underneath, lifting with some effort to let him onto her lap. He didn’t wake, but continued to whimper and turn as she rested his head against her. She chewed her bottom lip as she gently slid her fingers into his bangs, starting from his forehead and petting back toward her. His hair was as soft as she remembered.

Breathing in deeply, she pushed back her thoughts from moments before in favor of gazing down at the tortured dreamer in her lap. She pet his bangs soothingly, shushing and whispering to him that it’d be alright, not wanting to be too loud but not feeling quite right staying quiet, either. It took a while, but Shiro eventually calmed. He turned onto his stomach with his cheek pressed into Pidge’s thigh as she ran her palm down the long hair tied at his neck.

She looked up toward the sky to try and mark the time. If the game’s world and stars matched a typical rotating planet’s whatsoever, it had been a few hours since Shiro had laid down to sleep. She chewed her lip and watched the flames burning low in an ember for a while longer before — and with a heavy heart — she shook Shiro’s shoulder until he woke.

He snapped awake, head jolting up as he looked around, confused for a split second. The realization of where they were struck him and he dropped his head back onto Pidge’s lap. She smiled halfheartedly down at him.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. Your turn to watch,” she said, though every part of her wanted to let him continue to sleep.

Shiro fluttered his eyes back open and turned onto his back, head rotating into the center of Pidge’s lap as he looked up into her face. His cheeks flushed and his heart panged when he realized where he lay.

“H-hey,” he said, blinking up at her. Slowly, he sat up. Pidge pressed her palms against the hard ground and arched her back to stretch.

“Hey,” she replied in a small voice. He looked back over his shoulder at her and his heart fluttered when he saw her drowsy face. “You were… having nightmares, I think. Sorry. I just wanted to help.”

Shiro’s face filled with guilt, the fluttering inside his chest being replaced with faint pain. “O-oh. Sorry. Um… it’s alright. Thanks.”

He turned away and ran his left hand through his bangs, noticing they were already tousled. He wondered if Pidge had played with his hair. “It’s your turn to sleep.”

Pidge nodded and clumsily moved a bit closer to the shrinking fire before she stretched out on the hard ground. She stared into the embers and could hear Shiro shuffling around. Her insides twisted up.

“Do you have nightmares often?” she asked with a timid voice. She heard Shiro’s movements pause abruptly. A deep frown grew on her features as she waited for a reply.

“Yeah.”

Slowly, Pidge raised on her arms and looked back to Shiro. He was once again wrapped in his cloak, treating it like a blanket. She kneaded her lips between her teeth when she saw the discomfort on his face.

“Why haven’t you ever told me before?” she asked, her voice small. Shiro’s eyes closed and he ducked his head with his shoulders hunched over. Pidge’s heart continued to sink.

“I just… never wanted to bother the rest of the team with it. It’s my own shit to deal with, not yours.”

Pidge felt a stab to her gut at his words. “Your problems and needs will never, ever be a burden to me,” she said firmly, shoulders squared. Shiro looked up at her slowly. His face held a mixture of shame and fear as his eyes met hers. Her nostrils flared as she sucked in a deep breath of air. “Please, Shiro. Just… let me know when something’s bothering you, okay? If you have bad dreams I’ll do what I can to comfort you. Just be more honest with me. Please.”

Shiro stared into her eyes. His own were hardened yet distant, and Pidge couldn’t tell whether he was going to withdraw or break down. His eyebrows rose only slightly, though, and a very tiny smile spread on his lips.

“Alright, Pidge. I will. Thanks.”

She let out a long breath, giving him a comforting smile. Her heart pounded with the longing of reaching out to him for an embrace, but she held back, albeit reluctantly.

“Good. I’m here for you. Always,” she said. Voice wavering, she echoed her memory, “Forever.”

Shiro’s heart fluttered at her words and the look in her eyes, but he felt somehow uneasy. He watched as she twisted her torso back to the fire before settling down on her shoulder and curling in on herself.

He’d done his best since getting wrapped up with Team Voltron to keep the pains of his imprisonment to himself. The team had witnessed a few of his meltdowns, triggered by Sendak, a Robeast, or his prosthetic, but those were during waking hours — nobody except Keith knew about the nightmares that plagued his sleep. He felt ashamed that now, of all times, Pidge had to witness it, but was relieved beyond measure at how she’d handled it. He never wanted her to think of him as weak, but the way she spoke to him didn’t make him feel as if that’s how she considered him at all.

He tugged his cloak more tightly around himself and stared at the dimming fire, wondering if he should gather more wood. He looked around to measure the distance from their camp to the edge of the woods and stood.

“I’ll be RIGHT back, Pidge,” he assured as he passed her by. He heard her give a tiny noise in confirmation, hurrying away and returning only a few moments later with some more fuel for the flame. He knelt opposite Pidge, stacking the twigs and branches carefully, sure to not cause any embers to spray toward her. He sat back when he was finished and looked across to her. Instead of trying to sleep, her eyes were half-lidded, staring dully into the bonfire.

What was bothering her? Was she actually more upset with him over the nightmares than he thought? Or was she worried about the others, lost in the strange virtual reality they’d been sucked into?

He sighed to himself, rubbing his fingers tiredly through his hair and realizing it was all too common for him to worry about why Pidge was upset. The more he reflected on it, the more he realized that he didn’t know much about her thoughts. It seemed too simple to think that tech was all that occupied her mind. He knew there was way more to her than that. What could it be that forced that melancholy, distracted look on her face that he saw so often when she thought nobody was paying any attention? He wondered if it was related to her former, cold treatment toward him.

His head rose to look across the fire at her again and he frowned when she still wasn’t asleep. Inhaling a deep breath, he cleared his throat as silently as he could.

“Hey, Pidge?” he asked. She gave a quiet grunt in reply. He swallowed hard and fidgeted on the ground, pulling his legs tightly beneath him and holding onto the front of his boots with either hand. “What… made you change recently? I mean… the way you treat me.”

Pidge tensed on the ground and curled in on herself more. “What do you mean?” she feigned ignorance.

“You were kind of treating me like you were always mad at me, and we had that argument, but the next evening, you were just… fine,” Shiro said cautiously. He blinked against the glow of the fire. He could see Pidge curling up even more and wondered after a moment of silence if she was going to refuse to answer. She unfolded slowly, though, raising herself onto her right arm and turning her face in his direction, but her eyes remained fixed on the flame between them.

“Allura knocked some sense into me,” she explained clearly and quietly. She blinked, catlike, at the bonfire. “She said I was pushing you away, and she was right. So I stopped.”

Shiro’s heart sank as he saw the remorse etched into Pidge’s features. “Why were you pushing me away?”

Pidge closed her eyes, her entire face scrunching up slightly. Her stomach gave a painful lurch when he asked the question — one of the ones she’d dreaded most. Her eyes slowly opened, continuing to stare down the blinding light of the fire, as she tried to think of how to phrase what she wanted to say.

  
“It’s… it’s something that isn’t your fault,” she began with careful words as she finally turned her attention to Shiro’s face. She sat up straight, legs folded beneath her, and began to wring her hands. Shiro’s mouth adjusted from being open to tightly shut, brows lowering over his eyes as he listened to her. “It’s not your fault whatsoever, and you can’t control it. I’ll explain more someday. I’ll tell you everything. But right now… I’m not ready for that.” She closed her eyes as she took in a hollow breath. “But don’t worry,” she looked to him again, her throat tightening when she saw him looking confused and hurt. “It’s not that I’m mad at you. I’m just mad at life and circumstances.”

She watched him as he processed, hoping he wouldn’t be even more upset. He looked somewhat crestfallen, but after a deep sigh, Shiro said evenly, “I’m really curious, I won’t lie. But I’ll respect that you don’t want to talk about it and stop asking. Just… know that I’m here for you too, okay? For anything.”

Pidge’s eyes stung as his gaze bore into her and her heart pounded in her ears. “Thanks, Shiro. I appreciate it. Really.”

He nodded, and she nodded back. An awkward silence hung between them as they both turned their attention back to the fire for a few moments, lost in thought. Finally, Shiro spoke.

“Get some sleep, Pidge,” he murmured. She eyed him briskly before nodding once more and carefully moving to stretch out onto the ground. She closed her eyes before her head hit the ground and pulled her arm around to cradle her cheek in it, but started when she felt a pressure against her back. “C’mere. You let me use you as a pillow, let me return the favor.”

Her face flushed as she peered up at Shiro, though he’d averted his eyes. She sat up just enough so he could slide his legs beneath her, and she curled between them, pressing her cheek into his thigh. Her heart thudded against her ribcage when she felt his hand begin to rub soft circles on her upper back, and he draped his cloak as much as he could around her body.

“Night, Shiro,” she said meekly, closing her eyes tightly against the pain of longing inside her.

“Night, Pidge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Please let me know your thoughts!  
> Once again, thanks to d0g-bless for being an amazing friend, beta, and source of encouragement. <3   
> You can find this artwork posted on tumblr on my Voltron blog, @smolgreennerd!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure continues...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been busy with IRL stuff as well as absorbed in other fandoms, unfortunately.  
> This is the last chapter that was fully written before I even started posting, so please leave comments to encourage my inspiration for chapter six! It's started, but I hit a rough spot that I couldn't quite work through while I was still rollin'.  
> You can also leave asks, if you prefer, on tumblr @smolgreennerd  
> I'm.... really not sorry about all the references that follow. And as per usual, thank you to d0g-bless for being my beta <3

Shiro busied himself throughout the night by trying to remember every game of Monsters and Mana they’d played so far. 

The critters that he and Pidge had encountered didn’t match any of those they had fought before. He had no idea what to call them or what their weaknesses were, other than what they’d observed the day prior. The forests, meadow, and streams they adventured through weren’t familiar, either. He wondered if the game world varied depending on Coran’s instructions, or if it was vast enough where there were plenty of areas he and his friends had never yet seen.

How far away was the nearest village? Would it be the one that was attacked like in Coran’s introductory story? Was there any way for them to find an inn or shop to buy food and supplies? He and Pidge hadn’t earned too much coin yet from their battles, but he was positive much more fighting would greet them in the morning.

His left hand kept busy upon Pidge’s head, petting and stroking her brown curls. The gentle rise and fall of her body as she stayed tightly curled up in his lap, cheek pressed to his right thigh and her arm draped loosely over his knee, kept him grounded and calm when the noises echoing in the environment around them threatened to chill him to his core. There were howls, yelps, buzzing… his mind wanted to wander and imagine what types of creatures they belonged to. When he felt too nervous, his fingers would run once more through Pidge’s bangs, and it kept him from getting carried away.

The first glimpses of light peeked in from above the rocky overhang they were sheltered beneath. Shiro blinked slowly up at it and stifled a yawn. He wondered if they should head out soon or if he should let Pidge sleep longer. Gazing down at her, his face broke into a serene smile. She’d tilted onto her back and her hand was draped across her forehead, face relaxed as she slept. Shiro knitted his eyebrows and brushed some bangs from her face since he could no longer reach to play with her hair. Her cat ears gave a gentle twitch and Shiro had to stifle a laugh at the sight.

Though he wanted to find their friends and be sure everyone was alright, he really was glad that it was Pidge he’d found first.

A loud, drawn out scream echoed through the cliffs behind them, and Shiro’s entire body froze. A shiver ran up his spine. He scanned their surroundings with wild eyes before quickly but gently shaking Pidge’s shoulders.

“Pidge. Pidge, wake up,” he hissed. She groaned and stirred, but she didn’t sit up until he continued pressing urgently on her arm.

“What, Shiro?” she asked as she squinted her eyes against the light. He slid from his spot once she was no longer lying across his lap, and rolled toward his staff. She watched him with half-lidded, curious eyes, which grew more alert when she realized he was preparing to fight.

She cracked her back quickly before springing to her feet. Shiro was already standing and he waved for her to follow him toward the forest edge where he’d gone to collect firewood only a few hours prior. Clumsily, Pidge followed. Her limbs still argued against being awake. 

“What happened?” she asked after they’d pushed back into the treeline. She turned sideways to slip between two bushes that Shiro unceremoniously forced himself through.

“I heard a scream. Not sure what it was,” he explained. Pidge jogged a few steps to come up beside him and looked up to gauge his expression — his face was determined, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes. She fell back half a pace, a prickle of raised skin spreading over her neck and arms. Both hands reached to grab her daggers as she prepared for battle.

They pressed further into the dark, misty forest. Shiro whispered only once more to ask Pidge to stay close to him. She remained near enough that his cloak kept whipping across her ankles as they walked, but she continued glancing over her shoulders while he kept watch ahead.

A small grunt escaped Pidge’s lips as she ran into Shiro’s back. He’d stopped, and once he felt her collide, he held his left hand over his right shoulder to motion for her to wait. Her ears twitched as she strained to listen for any noise. There were faint voices and a gentle  _ pitpat _ of footsteps. 

“Stay alert,” Shiro hissed. She nodded and they continued to their left to circle around the area. Pidge continued to listen and her thumbs plucked at the end of her daggers’ handles.

“Three voices,” she whispered. Shiro looked back at her. “I believe.”

“How can you hear that?” he asked. Pidge quirked an eyebrow and pointed her blades toward her ears. Shiro looked a mixture of impressed and amused.

He rubbed her head for a second before he motioned for her to lead. Pidge skipped ahead silently, crouching low and weaving around trees, following the distant voices as best she could. Slowly, they grew louder, until they came to a dead stop.

Pidge halted and Shiro paused right behind her, hunched over to shield her small frame. Both hands curled around his staff and his body tensed as he listened for any movement.

He was knocked to the ground with a yell as a large object collided with his shoulders, knocking Pidge off balance as well. She stumbled but turned in place to try and recover and check on Shiro. She charged in a flash, dropping her daggers in time to tackle Shiro’s attacker away from him.

Tiny hands scratched at Lance’s face as he burst into laughter. Pidge screamed, “I’M GOING TO DESTROY YOU, YOU IDIOT!”

He squirmed and swatted at her hands between laughs, finally catching onto her wrists and holding tightly. Pidge struggled, growling and kicking.

“Hey Pidgey, we’re supposed to be on the same team,” he said as he flipped her off from straddling his stomach and onto her back on the ground. He smirked up at Shiro when he rose, but the smirk vanished when he saw Shiro’s dark expression. “Well, you two look like you had a bad night.”

“Lance, get off her,” Shiro growled as he brandished his staff. Lance let go of Pidge’s wrists, fell onto his backside, and held his palms up in surrender. He shouted out when Pidge dove at him again, and they wrestled for a few seconds more before Shiro tore them apart.

“As much as I want to let Pidge rip your arms off right now,” Shiro started as he wrapped his right arm firmly around her shoulders and pulled her against his body to keep her in check. “I need answers. What was that scream a while ago?”

“Oh, that? Pfsh,” Lance waved his hand dismissively, a cocky grin returning to his lips. “That was just Hunk. I snuck up on him and he freaked out.”

“Where’s Hunk now?” Shiro asked, looking around. Lance shrugged and motioned toward his right.

“Somewhere over there. With Allura,” Lance said. “I was alone all day yesterday and found their camp this morning.”

Shiro narrowed his eyes and let Pidge go as Lance waved for them to follow. With a bounce to his step, he led them toward the rising sun, soon coming upon a small clearing in the forest.

“Shiro! Pidge!” Allura cried, excitedly springing to her feet and running toward the trio. Pidge pushed past Lance and met Allura in a hug and they swayed back and forth with big grins plastered on their faces. Shiro let out a slow sigh of relief and smiled at their reunion.

“Hey guys!” Hunk said chipperly. “So that’s where Lance went off to.”

“My ninja senses picked up on them,” Lance pointed to himself with his thumb as he marched toward the fire and plopped down on a log. 

“Where have you guys been? What have you been up to?” Allura asked as she pulled away from Pidge but clutched her shoulders tightly. “Come, sit down — are you hungry?”

“Starved, actually,” Shiro said, and his stomach gave a loud growl when he noticed a pleasant aroma in the air. He strode to sit next to Hunk against a large boulder, and Hunk nudged him with his elbow, a tired grin on his lips.

Allura led Pidge to sit next to Lance on the log bench, but when Pidge attempted to claw at Lance again, she sat between them.

“So… Your day yesterday — you seem to have survived just fine,” Allura said with a grin. Her hair was tied back into a tight ponytail and several braids lined her head above her ears on each side. She wore a chainmail shirt with deep blue leather over it, silver pauldrons and vambraces, and high leather boots over gray leggings. A double-sided axe leaned against the log not too far from where she sat.

“Yeah. It was long, but not too rough,” Shiro said as he gave Pidge a small smile. Her cheeks flushed and she returned it.

“We met in another forested area across a stream from here,” Pidge explained. “Have you guys had to fight a lot?”

“Hunk and I had to fight off a troll late last night,” Allura explained as she shared a soft smile with the Yellow Paladin. “But other than that, we’ve just been exploring.”

“Where’d you wake up?” Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The middle of a field. There were these lizard things all around, and I ran my ass off into the forest,” Hunk admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. His hair was shaved on the lower half, a short and tight ponytail at the crown of his head. He wore a red tunic, a belt at his hips, and black trousers with black leather boots. A lute lay near his feet.

“And I woke up in a cave not far from here,” Allura said. “We met up after I heard Hunk’s screaming.”

She gave him another smile, but he fidgeted in his seat. His eyebrows furrowed heavily then returned to normal as he studied their fire.

“Where’d you get the supplies?” Pidge asked. There was a tiny cauldron set directly on their fire with a vibrant soup boiling within. A couple chipped wooden bowls waited on the dirt ground.

“We, um… ‘borrowed’ them from a hut we found inside the forest,” Allura said with a slight shrug. Pidge grinned at her.

“There’s tons of edible vegetation in the forest if you just look for it,” Hunk explained when he fell to his knees. He cupped the edge of his tunic over his hands to shield them as he grabbed the cauldron and gave it a swish to stir the soup.

“You sure it’s all safe?” Shiro asked. Hunk looked back at him with a raised eyebrow and a pout. “We seem to be stuck in here, for real — Lance — so we’ve gotta be sure we don’t make any mistakes and get sick or hurt.”

“Why are you saying my name?” Lance asked incredulously. 

Pidge tensed. “Because it’s your fault we’re stuck here, idiot!” she cried and leaned around Allura. The Princess wrapped her arms around Pidge to stop her mid-dive and pushed her back to her seat.

“Hmph, is not.” Lance crossed his arms with a huff.

“You spilled your space Capri Sun on the game, then it freaked out,” Shiro said matter-of-factly. “So yeah, it kind of is.”

Lance raised his eyebrows, puppy dog eyes aimed at Shiro. The sorcerer rolled his eyes with a shake of his head and dropped his staff to the ground.

“Any sign of Keith, Matt, or Coran?” Shiro asked. Allura, Hunk, and Lance shook their heads. “We should focus on locating them today, then.”

“Hey, so, Shiro… if we’re ‘stuck’ here… how exactly do we get out?” Hunk heaved himself to his feet and returned to his spot against the boulder. He crossed his arms high on his chest and tilted his head to meet Shiro’s eyes. 

“My best guess is we’ve gotta win. Just hopefully that doesn’t mean fighting Coran.”

“We always have to fight Coran, though,” Lance said. He stretched his legs out in front of himself and bunched up his shoulders.

“Shiro thinks that if we get hurt here, we get hurt in real life,” Pidge explained. “I don’t think this is some type of dream, either. Everything feels far too real. I can even feel it when I get experience points, and a bush scratched me yesterday and I actually bled.” She pointed to the small cut on her cheekbone and everyone looked to her with concern etched in their features.

“Thanks, Lance,” Hunk said. Lance groaned.

“It was an ACCIDENT.”

“Playing the blame game won’t help us,” Allura said. She reached a comforting hand to place on Lance’s shoulder. “Shiro’s right — we need to find the others first, then we can concentrate on getting out of here.”

“Where should we start?” Pidge sat forward and clutched at the log. Her nails dug into the decayed bark.

They all exchanged looks. Nobody wanted to make the first suggestion.

“All I know is we shouldn’t split up again,” Shiro finally said.

“We would cover more ground if we split up, though,” Allura suggested. She gave Shiro a small smile when he frowned. “We don’t have to go far, and can mark our path and meet back in the middle.”

“We’ll see what kind of plan we come up with. I’d just rather none of the team gets stuck being alone,” he said. His eyes wandered to Pidge, who was toying with the small pouch she’d tied into her sash the day prior. “It stayed.”

She gave him a toothy grin. “Guesso.” Shiro moved to reach into his cloak pocket so he could give her her share of their loot, but Pidge quickly shook her head. “Hang onto it for me.”

“You guys get some nice things?” Lance sat forward with a greedy glint to his eye. He bounced in place. “Lemme see.”

“No way, thief,” Shiro teased.

“Pidge is one too!” Lance said defensively as he pointed to her. “She even copied me by being an animal.”

“Furry,” Hunk corrected with a giggle. He shrank back when Pidge and Lance both glared at him. “So, Shiro, you actually chose something other than a Paladin. I’m impressed.”

Shiro’s cheeks flushed. “Y-yeah. I’m a sorcerer. Not gonna lie, it’s pretty cool to be able to use magic.”

He gave Pidge another small smile when she looked at him, smug grin plastered on her lips. She leaned to Allura and bumped against her shoulder.

“Warrior?”

Allura giggled. “Yep.”

“And a bard, Hunk?” Pidge asked him as she nodded toward the lute. Hunk looked to her and down to his instrument, picked it up, and cradled it in his lap.

“Yeah. I almost went with a monk and now kind of wish I did… we won’t have a healer,” he scrunched up his face in thought and strummed his fingers over the strings of the lute. It hummed gently, perfectly tuned. “Though — you guys noticing that we’re not exactly bound to our classes’ rules? Last night I could play whatever I wanted on this, and even sing, and I don’t remember starting out knowing any skills like that before.”

Shiro raised a curled finger to his lips, thinking hard. “You know, come to think of it… There’s a good chance we AREN’T bound by rules. I mean, I obviously only do the amount of damage a level two sorcerer could do, but I have more control over how I use the magic, and it’s not exactly like Pidge and I were taking turns while fighting. It was a free-for-all."

“Maybe since our consciousnesses are in the game, we can treat it more like real life,” Pidge suggested. “Like you said — damage is going to be the same. I’d imagine magic users will still be bound by mana. But we could potentially use different skills than what we would normally have if we were playing the game following the rules.”

“Breaking the rules. I like it,” Lance said. He slid from the log and his torso whipped back as he moved to stretch. Loosening up, he pointed to Pidge with a lopsided grin. “So that means all those times I played this class paid off. I know exactly how to do this. How ‘bout you and I go train a bit, Pidgey? I’ll teach you how to thief.”

Pidge perked up, raised both eyebrows, and sat forward excitedly. “Really?”

“Worth a shot,” Shiro said. Pidge sprung to her feet and ran toward Lance, who turned and quickly led her away from camp.

Allura watched them retreat until they were just small shapes mixed in with the trees. She turned back to Shiro and Hunk — Hunk had his eyes closed as he tried to get a feel for his instrument, and Shiro watched him with a curious expression.

“So once we eat, we’ll head out,” Allura suggested. Shiro looked toward her with a brisk nod. “I do think we should split up. Just for short increments — we can use our weapons to mark trees, or drop stones — something so we can find our way back to one another. It’d be best to find the others sooner rather than later in case something happens.”

“I don’t really want to split up, but it probably  _ is _ the best plan,” Shiro said. He sat back and crossed his arms. “We can leave this fire lit while we go and use the smoke from it as a marker. Maybe Keith or Matt will see it, too, and head over here.”

“Do you know what class Matt chose? Keith said he was going to be a paladin, at least,” Hunk said, eyes still closed as his fingers plucked at chords.

“No idea about Matt,” Allura said. “Shiro?”

Shiro shrugged. “He played all types of things in our games on Earth, so I’m not sure what he’d prefer.” He reached his left hand up to scratch at his jaw, surprised to feel just the slightest amount of stubble. Growing facial hair cemented the idea in Shiro’s head that they were there for real.

“You said you were level two, Shiro,” Allura said as she narrowed her eyes. Her legs crossed before her as she sat back on the log and she tilted her head to the side. “How’d you know that?”

Shiro lowered his hand from his face, gave an open-armed shrug, and folded his arms again. “While Pidge and I were fighting we noticed a strange feeling after our kills. It felt like a magic mist was being absorbed into our bodies. Right before setting up camp, we took out one of those lizard things Hunk was talking about, and it was like… a surge of warmth filled my body. Pidge felt it then, and earlier when she was fishing. We assumed that was a level gain — no idea what else it could be.”

“Huh.” Hunk finally opened his eyes and lowered the lute to his lap. “Now that you mention it, I felt something like that after the troll we fought.”

Allura nodded in agreement, her eyebrows raised high. 

“Maybe we should look for low-level enemies to fight today as well so we can grow more powerful,” Allura said. Hunk scrunched his face in a pout while Shiro nodded.

With a deep sigh, Hunk set down his instrument and slid away from his seat again, dropping to his knees and cautiously sniffing the cauldron of soup. He reached behind himself into his belt to take out a small, short dagger, and used it to spear a bright green root vegetable. He blew on it for a few seconds, tasted it, then sat back onto his feet.

“Food’s ready,” he said as he looked up to Allura then over his shoulder to Shiro. “We’ve only got two bowls so we’ll have to share. You guys can eat first.”

He once again used his shirt as protection and lifted the pot from the flame. Carefully, he dunked each bowl in far enough to scoop a helping of soup inside and passed one to Allura first, then Shiro.

“Thanks, Hunk,” Shiro said as his stomach growled once more. He hunched over to carefully blow on the hot liquid.

“I’m gonna go find a bush,” Hunk muttered as he got to his feet and retreated into the woods. Shiro and Allura shared amused glances.

“Even in a fantasy world, Hunk’s a great cook,” Allura said with a pleasant sigh after taking her first sip of soup. Shiro nodded quietly and drank some broth as well. He straightened up to look into the distance and check in on Lance and Pidge, but they were nowhere to be seen in the thick forest. Shiro’s insides twisted with unease.

“They’re fine, Shiro,” Allura assured when she saw him scanning the trees. He turned to her with knitted brows and her lips once again spread into a smile. “Lance is probably just teaching her how to be stealthy. He’s played a thief nearly every time we’ve played Monsters and Mana — almost as much as you’re a paladin. So, if we really aren’t bound by learning new skills like we normally would be, it’ll be a great benefit for them to train together.”

Shiro nodded, but he couldn’t push away the dread inside that something could possibly happen to his friends in the game. Something could happen to Pidge. He lowered his head again and blew steam away from his food before pouring more carefully into his mouth. He watched the fire as he chewed.

“Hey, Shiro,” Hunk said as he hurried back to the camp. “You said you guys crossed a stream, right? Where was it?”

Shiro looked back at Hunk and with a wince, quickly swallowed some too-hot soup. “Not sure. We wandered through the forest quite a bit to find you guys. But,” he looked up at the sky to try to remember the direction which the sun had risen so he could gauge direction, “I think it was south of here.”

“Okay. There was a super, super tiny stream close to here so we could get water for the food — maybe it led there. But it’d be nice to go back and wash up a little. Tonight, maybe.”

Shiro nodded in agreement and set his empty bowl on his lap. He offered it to Hunk to eat next, and Hunk thanked him before grabbing more food for himself.

Allura set her bowl on the ground and stood up to stretch, then picked up her axe. She winked at the boys before she strolled away to the edge of the clearing and started to train. Shiro watched her for a few moments, impressed at how she already had a grasp on how to use it, before he picked up his staff and moved away from the fire to practice as well.

He spent some time trying to concentrate on channeling his fireball attack and focus on how it felt — the feeling that coursed through his body and arms as the flame formed between his staff and right hand; the way he felt a release of energy as he pushed it toward the sky. Was that his body expelling mana? He wondered if it would replenish on its own over time or if he’d have to use recovery items eventually to be able to continue to use his magic.

He glanced back toward camp when he heard the return of Hunk’s music. Shiro grinned — Hunk was actually pretty good at playing. The song grew louder as Hunk grew more confident, and he rocked side to side gently as he played.

Shiro jumped back a step when Pidge appeared in front of him, seemingly from nowhere. A devilish grin spread across her face as she closed the gap between them.

“Hey Shiro,” she purred as she stood on her toes to get closer to him yet. Shiro felt heat rise from his neck and spread over his face to match the way Pidge’s hands slid slowly up his chest. He swallowed hard.

“H-hey, Pidge,” he said, and he moved to take another step backward. Pidge followed, her body nearly pressed up against his. “Have fun training with Lance?”

“Mmhmm,” she said as her fingers gently grazed over his neck. “I’d rather be grinding with you though.”

Shiro’s heart skipped a beat. “ _ She means fighting monsters for experience _ ,” he told himself, though her look said otherwise. He swallowed again, his throat unexpectedly dry, and his eyes flashed down to Pidge’s lips, parted slightly but still turned up in a sly grin. 

He looked back to her eyes just in time for her to pull back, her face full of mirth as she burst into a fit of giggles. Shiro spun on his heel when he heard Lance chuckling behind him as well. Lance stood, one leg crossed behind the other, with a big grin on his face as he tossed a few coins into the air and caught them.

Shiro reached into his pocket. Some of the items he and Pidge looted the day before were gone. “Lance,” Shiro said icily. His face was still red and hot from Pidge’s advancement but irritation was now mixed in. “Give it back.”

Pidge giggled and pranced through the grass and around Shiro, arms behind her arched back as she looked up at Shiro with a spritely smirk. “How’d I do?” she asked Lance with a tilt of her head. He caught his trinkets a final time and raised his knuckle to wipe away an invisible tear.

“I’m so proud of my little thief apprentice,” he said with dramatic flair. Shiro’s eyebrows lowered as he glared between the two thieves. With a huff, he turned, grasped his staff tightly, and marched back to camp.

The grin vanished from Pidge’s lips as she watched Shiro storm away. Her heart sank a little. Maybe she’d taken it too far? Lance had told her a good way to distract someone while taking their belongings was with flirting. Naturally, Pidge wanted to test it on Shiro — it’d been ages since she’d tried to get a reaction from him in that way. The blush that crept up his cheeks while she got close was more than satisfying, but if it upset him… was it really worth it?

Pidge took one look at Lance before hurrying back toward the others, concern on her face. 

“What was that about?” Allura asked as she returned to her spot as well. Shiro grunted in reply and Pidge gave Allura a small frown. Lance tossed his arm around Pidge’s shoulders from behind once he caught up.

“Teaching Pidgey how to distract a victim,” Lance said. He grinned at Shiro, who had his back to the group as he leaned against the opposite side of the boulder from Hunk. He held his cloak tightly around his body and stared into the trees without a word.

Pidge’s heart sunk even more. She wondered if she should apologize to him — maybe she made him uncomfortable?

“Here,” Hunk said, and he offered both wooden bowls to Pidge and Lance. “You two eat quick so we can get moving.”

Lance and Pidge took the bowls and plopped down onto the dirt to hurriedly eat the cooled soup. Hunk moved from their camp a ways before he tilted the empty cauldron upside down and shook it to remove the last droplets of liquid. He strode back to the group while hanging its handle around his belt.

“So we’ll split up,” Allura said. “We’ve five so we should go in a group of two and three.”

Hunk made a noise in affirmation. “Who with who?”

“I’ll go with Shiro,” Pidge said, almost too eagerly. She cringed inwardly at herself. “We worked really well together before.”

Lance looked to her with slightly narrowed eyes, and she shrank back a little. 

“Probably a good plan to have one thief per party,” Allura said with a little nod as she nibbled on her knuckle. “Let’s just stick with the groups from before, then. Pidge — those are daggers on your back, right?” Pidge gave a little nod. “Slash trees every few yards with them to mark your trail so you can make your way back here. I’ll do the same with my axe. Before we leave, we should feed this fire a little more so it lasts longer.”

Hunk once again made a noise to confirm. He took the emptied bowls from Pidge and Lance and carefully shook them out before sliding them into the empty cauldron. He then waved Allura toward him and the two made their way to the treeline to gather more wood.

Pidge watched Shiro’s back with a heavy heart. He still hadn’t turned back toward them. Did her little joke really annoy him that much? She supposed that if he’d flirted with her but didn’t mean it, she’d be hurt, too… But she did mean it. He just... couldn’t know that.

She punched Lance in the arm and caused him to flinch, cry out, and drop the coins he’d snatched from Shiro. She hurriedly grabbed them and sprung to her feet, then gently padded through the grass to stand before him. He didn’t move, but he looked up at her slowly as she held out both of her hands to offer him the stolen money.

Shiro could see the guilt in Pidge’s features. He knew now she’d been training, but the bit of excitement and quick letdown he’d gotten from her when she got that close to him had caused a dull ache in his heart. He found himself wishing that she’d want to get that close and flirtatious with him for real.

Shiro sighed very gently through his nose, grinned a little, and met her eyes. “Khajiit has wares if you have the coin,” he said with a thick accent.

Pidge grinned too, snorted, and joined Shiro in a laugh. He reached out to close her hand over the coins. 

“Keep them. Half of it’s yours anyway,” he said, and he held his hand over her fist for a few seconds too long. He quickly pulled away when he saw a blush creep up her cheeks and withdrew his hand into his cloak’s sleeve. “Put the pouch to good use.”

Pidge nodded and twisted around to open the small pouch hanging from her sash. She dropped the coins in and pulled the drawstring tight. 

“Is it okay?” she asked him with raised eyebrows. “That we’re on a team again?”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he put softly, which earned more color in Pidge’s cheeks. He slid away from his seat and stood to crack his back.

Pidge shuffled in place and looked down at her dirty feet while she waited for her face to cool down. She stole a glance back toward the center of camp — Lance quickly looked away. Was he watching Shiro and her talk?

“Which direction will you two be taking?” Allura asked when she returned with Hunk and two armfuls of firewood. They both got to work building up the fire.

Shiro looked in all directions and finally settled on a place away from the sun, where Pidge and Lance had run off to train earlier. “We’ll go this way,” he said with a jab over his shoulder. “Not sure how directions work here but I’m just going to call it ‘west.’”

“I don’t think we’ll be encountering any compasses to prove that theory wrong,” Pidge said. She climbed, with some effort, to the top of the large boulder and sat down at its peak. Lance was plucking blades of grass one by one. “Lance, anything else I should know about being a thief?”

He looked up at her with one raised brow. “Be quiet and be quick,” he said as he lifted a handful of torn grass and dropped it against the breeze. It flew and scattered across camp. “We don’t have super high damage without skills and we’re medium armor class, so obviously don’t go trying to tank anything. Basic stuff. You’ve played games like this before — really, it’s all the same.”

“Any magic-user advice, Hunk?” Shiro asked as he tossed his staff from hand to hand. Hunk brushed his hands off on his pants while he stood.

“Watch your mana. And hey — we’re not rule-bound. Experiment and try to do different spells,” Hunk said. He picked up his lute and hung it across his back by latching it onto a strap. “Be careful, guys. We’ll meet back here when the sun’s close to setting again, unless we stumble into each other somewhere else. Okay?”

Four voices made hums of confirmation. Lance stood, gave Pidge a thumbs up, and threw his arms around Hunk’s and Allura’s shoulders before the three took off toward the south.

“Ready to go, Shorty?” Shiro asked. Pidge tensed for just a second. It had been years since he used that term of endearment, even though it was an obvious choice for her. He offered her a hand and she slid hers into his grasp before standing atop the rock and scampering down on the pads of her feet.

“Hey, Shiro?” she asked as he let go. He responded with a questioning hum as he turned toward the west and began to walk. She stayed a pace behind him. “You should call me that more.”

“What, Shorty?” he asked with a curious tone. He peered over his shoulder at her. “I’m surprised that doesn’t annoy you.”

She shook her head. Shiro looked ahead and skipped a step to fall back to Pidge’s side.

Pidge rubbed her arm and watched the grass beneath their feet as they headed back into the treeline. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times, unsure of whether to say what was on her mind or not. Finally, with a turn of her stomach, she forced out, “Someone I was really, really close to on Earth called me that all the time. I miss it.”

Shiro once more looked to her with surprise. He pushed a low-hanging branch away so Pidge could walk past it without ducking and slid past it himself before clearing his throat.

“Who? Do I know them?”

Pidge’s shoulders tensed. “Maybe.”

Shiro pushed his lips to the side. Her voice held the familiar tone that said she didn’t want to elaborate. He wouldn’t push it.

“Mark a tree,” he said as he paused in his tracks. Pidge pulled one of her daggers from its sheath and took a couple heavy swings at eye level to carve a deep gash in the form of a “V.”

“V for Voltron. Nice.” Shiro chuckled. He pressed ahead, Pidge close on his heels.

They traveled in silence, pausing only to mark trees every few yards or when Pidge insisted she heard something. She’d stop, her hears would twitch a few times, and then she’d motion for Shiro to continue. He grew less amused and more impressed at her heightened sense of hearing, and wondered if Lance’s wolf ears had the same capability.

“A monster,” Shiro said after they’d circled a gigantuous tree trunk. He lifted his staff and waited for Pidge to remove her second dagger. They made eye contact and shared a brief nod before sneaking closer to the creature. It had a serpentine body and three sets of wings, with feathers covering from its cheeks to the tip of its tail, which was forked at the end. It turned at the sound of Shiro’s footsteps and three rows of eyes greeted them, all pupils narrow slits.

“Careful,” Pidge said as she inched in a circle around it. She used her silent footfalls to her advantage. “There’s something dripping from those teeth. It may be poison.”

“Let me see if my magic works first, then, since it’s ranged,” Shiro said. He felt his muscles tense when he saw the shimmery violet liquid ooze from the creature’s many fangs. He held the end of his staff in front of him with his left hand and cupped his right towards it, and concentrated on his fire magic. If he focused on the feeling he got from the charging up phase, possibly, he could make it larger.

“Shiro,” Pidge said with urgency. The serpentine monster had arched its head back, similar to how a snake would prepare to lunge. Shiro sucked in some air and stretched his staff and hand outward quickly. The fireball grew to twice its size just in time for the monster to attack, and Shiro threw it directly at its unhinged jaw. It hit its target, but Shiro dove to his right and rolled — the attack did heavy damage but did nothing to stop the creature’s trajectory.

“Nice one!” Pidge cried. Swift feet padded through the grass and she slid feet-first across the ground. She dragged both her daggers across the long tail of the beast, cutting deeply, before she tumbled into a tree with a grunt. She recovered quickly, though, and watched Shiro shoot a steady stream of fire at the monster’s head when it lashed out toward him. “Woah.”

“Pidge, duck!” Shiro cried, and she dropped to a squat just before a heavy feathered wing would make contact with her head. It slammed into the tree behind her and knocked chips of wood across her body. She sprinted, hunched over, toward Shiro, and paused at his side long enough to wind up and toss one of her blades toward the center of the monster’s body. The handle made contact with its scorched flesh but bounced lamely onto the ground.

“Worth a shot,” Pidge said as her face fell. Shiro stopped his flamethrower attack just in time to whip his staff around and use it to block a swing of the creature’s tail. Pidge flinched and stumbled backward a step. “Th-thanks.”

“No problem,” Shiro said through gritted teeth. He was starting to wonder if this creature was far too high a level for them to take on. Pidge slinked behind him and began to run around the edge of the clearing to try and get her dagger back. He watched her while he shuffled sideways as well and tried to come up with his next plan of attack.

The serpent let out a piercing screech. Both of them cringed against the noise and their vision went blurry. Shiro could hear Pidge swear across the way as he clutched at his forehead with his right hand.

“Some type of confusion attack or something!” Pidge cried from somewhere to his left. Her voice sounded strained. “Avoid attacking until you can see straight!”

Shiro cursed too. He swung his staff out in front of him to block another lash from the creature’s tail, and jogged backwards against the treeline for some cover. Its eyes looked to be burned shut, and its body had taken massive damage, but its movements didn’t seem to be slowed at all.

“Pidge!” Shiro called. He couldn’t see her amongst the trees and dust kicked up from the fight. “Where are you?”

No answer. Was she hurt, or was she trying to be stealthy?

He closed his eyes for just a second and shook his head forcefully. Upon opening his eyes, Shiro noticed his vision was mostly cleared, so he began to charge another flame attack. He watched as the monster’s long tail arched into the air as it searched blindly for one of them to attack, and Pidge rolled beneath its body, grabbed her dagger, and sprung to her feet just before its tail collided with the ground. She stumbled from the force behind her and fell to her knees beside Shiro.

A few more seconds, and he could let another attack soar. He took in another breath, steadied his nerves, and prepared to launch the giant ball of fire toward the monster. But he diverted his attack at the last second, aiming instead toward the trees, as a figure in dark grey armor charged in, their ebony sword gleaming from the light of his attack. Pidge turned onto her backside, and Shiro quickly lifted her to her feet by the elbow. In awe, they both watched their new ally finish off their foe.

With another deafening screech, this time thankfully with no adverse effects, the creature writhed and fell. In a giant puff of smoke, its remains vanished and were replaced by a gentle rain of copper and silver.

The figure turned and lowered their weapon. A smug smirk spread across purple lips and he wiped some sweat from his brow.

“Keith!” Shiro cried. He charged toward his friend and wrapped him in an uncomfortable hug — the armor Keith wore was made of bulky, hard metal.

“Hey guys,” Keith chuckled as he patted Shiro’s back. He stabbed his longblade into the ground once Shiro let him go, only to be tackled back a few steps by Pidge.

“You look like a Galra!” she laughed as her head clanked against his breastplate. Keith grinned and rubbed her hair.

“Nice ears,” he said. She backed off from him with a big grin. “You guys alone?”

“Right now we are. We found Hunk, Allura, and Lance this morning but split up to look for you,” Shiro said. He wiped his face off on his sleeve, finally aware of the dripping sweat on his brow. “Any sign of Matt? Or Coran?”

“Coran’s held captive. I assume it’s part of his story,” Keith said. He backed up a few more steps to allow for Pidge to collect all the coins that had scattered across the ground. “I saw him being dragged away in a cage by a group of what I guess were NPCs right after I woke up in an alley.”

“You woke up in town?” Pidge asked as she struggled to fit more coin into her pouch. She picked up the last of the loot and walked on her knees to Shiro, only to shove her hand into his pocket to drop in the rest of the change.

“Yeah. Not much left of it, though. There were others heading out and talking about going to ‘Witherton’ or something like that. May be another village,” Keith explained. He reached down a gloved hand to help Pidge to her feet.

“No Matt, then?” she asked disappointedly. Keith shook his head with a frown, but it inverted quickly when Pidge’s cat ears flattened against her head.

“I can _ not _ believe those just did that,” he said. He quickly covered his mouth with both hands to hide his wide grin and dimples. Shiro smirked when Pidge’s bottom lip stuck out, her ears moving from flattened with sadness to irritation. A small change, but it reminded him of his childhood pet cats.

“We should keep moving,” Shiro said. His voice was full of mirth as he watched Keith try to contain his giggles. Pidge reached both hands up to cover her ears, her cheeks pink with embarrassment. Shiro tossed his staff to his right hand before reaching his left out and gingerly prying her arms away. She looked at him with a pout before going to inspect Keith’s sword.

“This looks powerful,” she said. 

Keith coughed a few times into his hands. “Yeah. It’s pretty sweet.”

“Is that what you started with?” Shiro reached for the handle as Pidge was gently gliding her finger across the blade. 

“No. I earned it. I had like, a regular steel sword to begin with, but I did a lot of fighting yesterday and eventually got this off a wraith.”

“Wraith?” asked Shiro as he plucked the sword from the soft ground and gave it a few swings to test its weight. 

“Yeah. Like those things in Lord of the Rings,” Keith shared a smirk with Pidge. “It was like all clouds and shadow under a torn cloak. Really tough to fight.”

Shiro looked to his friend as his brows knitted in concern. He held the sword out to Keith, who took it and hung it on its belt — he must not have found a scabbard to go with it. “You need to be careful out here, Keith. We may be able to get hurt for real.”

Keith let out a shallow chuckle. “We’ve all dealt with worse than a few fantasy creatures. Relax, Shiro. Fighting Galra and Robeasts is way tougher than this.”

Pidge chewed her bottom lip and bobbed her head in agreement. What was a monster or two compared to malicious, advanced-race aliens with superweapons?

“I’d really rather none of us have to make that comparison for real,” Shiro said. He moved toward Keith and slapped his left hand onto his armored shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Pidge hurried toward the giant tree to carve in their “V” before joining the boys as they pushed through the brush. She stayed a few paces behind them, but between their shoulders, so she could equally see and protect both.

“You were fighting all day?” Shiro asked. Keith nodded. He was watching his feet as he walked — the iron boots he wore seemed to irritate him a bit. “What level are you?”

“Level?” One side of Keith’s mouth turned up in amusement. Pidge hurriedly explained their discoveries with experience and earned a more thoughtful look. “No idea, to be honest. I know I felt what you’re talking about, but I didn’t count at all. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Shiro said while nudging Keith in the side. “The way you took out that snake thing made you seem pretty badass.”

“I  _ am _ badass,” Keith teased with a push to Shiro’s arm. Shiro chuckled as he stumbled to the side and came back to mess up the back of Keith’s hair.

Pidge smiled up at them from behind. Many things had changed over the years, especially regarding their relationships and personalities. But one thing stayed consistent — Shiro and Keith. They were always the first to pick on each other as well as the first to show one another affection. It brought her back to Earth, four years prior, to better times when they, along with Matt and her, were inseparable.

“Pidge, look sharp,” Keith said to snap her from her thoughts. She looked between the boys’ shoulders to see another of the same serpentine creatures they’d just taken down. “Can’t get stronger without a little work.”

Keith pulled his longblade from his belt and charged. Shiro, as reflex, charged up another fireball and threw it toward the serpent’s face immediately after Keith’s blade dragged lengthwise down its body. The fireball hit, the creature screamed and writhed, and Pidge sprinted forward to get a hit in so she wouldn’t miss out on the experience.

A strange sensation similar to going down the largest fall of a roller coaster came over her body as she charged at her foe. Dagger facing out the back side of her fist, she dragged it parallel to the cut Keith had made on the creature’s body. It dug deep, and she leapt away at the end of her attack to land yards away on one knee.

“Nice one, Pidge!” Shiro called as he let loose another attack. She looked over her shoulder to see him using the flamethrower she’d witnessed not ten minutes before, and Keith wound up for a swing of his sword. She rose to her feet, adjusted to holding her daggers more firmly, and backed up a few paces before she took a deep breath and sprinted in a circle around it.

Shiro lowered his weapon and ran to his left to get out of the way of a wing attack. It narrowly missed him — just barely catching the tip of his cloak. He rolled to break his fall and came back to his feet as Pidge sprinted, full speed, for another attack, this time head-on. He watched as she ran, trying to determine if she was using a new skill or just going on instinct.

“Run, Forrest, run!” Keith cried with a slight laugh as he spun in place post-attack. He swung his longblade over his shoulder and started toward their enemy, but stumbled in his step as he saw Shiro fall to his knees and clutch at his head.

Shiro’s heart missed a beat at Keith’s words. In a split second the dense, dark forest they were inside was replaced by a deep orange field, divided into evenly painted rows. Many feet pounded the ground but his eyes were focused on a black number five. _ “Run, Forrest, run” _ echoed in his mind in three familiar voices.

He fell to his knees when the vision disappeared and clutched at his head, breathing heavily. He heard a voice call his name, but it sounded distant… distorted. Suddenly aware of how fast his heart was beating, Shiro clutched the front of his shirt with his right hand and looked up to see the giant serpentine creature they were fighting collapse to the ground in a puff of smoke.

A hand clutched his shoulder tightly and Shiro heard his name again, but this time it was clear. He looked to Keith with wide, confused eyes. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I just looked over, and you’d collapsed,” Keith said as he dropped his sword. He waved his hand in front of Shiro’s face, and on cue, Shiro followed the movement with his eyes. Satisfied, Keith patted his cheek a bit. “Maybe the thing confused you or something. You okay?”

Pidge pushed to her feet after a wobbly landing. She could hear the puff of smoke behind her, and grinned knowing she’d managed to take out their foe. A deeper sense of pride filled her when she felt the fairy-dust tingle of a level up. She turned to ask the others if they felt it as well, but her face fell immediately when she saw Shiro on the ground, Keith waving his hand in front of his face.

“Shiro!” she cried, immediately sprinting toward him. He looked up at her with a dazed expression, and started when she fell roughly to her knees in front of him. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Shiro stole a glance to Keith, whose eyebrows were deeply furrowed. They were concerned, but he really had no concrete answer for them as to what had just happened.

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice wavering. He gave them both a small smile when they looked unconvinced. “Just… probably got confused again, like Keith said.”

Pidge pushed her lips to the side and shared a look with Keith. From his expression, he didn’t believe Shiro, either. She sighed. She’d press more later, maybe. “Can you stand?”

“Y-yeah,” Shiro said. Keith and Pidge both sprung to their feet and offered him their hands. He placed one of his in each of theirs and let them pull him upright. Keith reached to pick up his staff for him while Pidge brushed dirt and grass from his cloak. “Should pick up our loot.”

“My bag’s full — do you have pocket space, Shiro?” Pidge asked. He looked into her eyes and dug his hands into his pockets, nodding at her briefly.

“You sure you’re fine, dude?” Keith asked as he pressed Shiro’s staff back into his hand. Shiro nodded again to try to reassure Keith. They watched Pidge scramble around the ground to pick up their reward.

“Definitely worth fighting these things.” Shiro hurried over so he could hold open his pocket for Pidge to drop her collection inside. “What’s that?”

Keith hurried to where Shiro was pointing and bent to carefully pick up a few long fangs. He tapped them against his leg plates to rid them of a dusting of dirt. “Fangs. Wonder if they have any magic properties.”

“Careful, Keith. They have poison on their teeth,” Pidge said quickly. Keith approached her and held them out in the palm of his hand.

“They seem clean,” he said. “The poison secretion probably stops when the body poofs away.”

Shiro hummed curiously and picked up one of the teeth to inspect it. “Hopefully there’s an NPC in town that can explain what some of these things do.”

Keith nodded in agreement but moved to deposit the three trinkets in the firm leather bag attached to his hip. Shiro quirked an eyebrow when he saw it was half full.

“You’re rich.”

Keith shrugged with a grin. “Lots of fighting means lots of loot.”

“Let’s go,” Pidge said as she pushed the last few coppers into Shiro’s pocket. She reached up to poke her finger gently into his cheek. “Feeling okay?”

Shiro nodded and rubbed her head with his left hand. Wordlessly, they took off into the forest again.

A couple hours, many Voltron-graffitied trees, and a dozen wild encounters later, and a clearing came to view — and beyond, a village. The three exchanged excited grins.

“Let’s go!” Pidge said as she took off through the meadow and pushed once more through grass that threatened to swallow her.

“Hang on,” Shiro called. She stopped in her tracks and glanced back to him. “We should head back to camp and wait for the others.”

“Let’s just check out town first,” Keith said with a hand to Shiro’s left shoulder. He squeezed it gently. “We can get some supplies and answers about our loot. Maybe even upgrade your and Pidge’s equipment.”

Shiro looked to the sky and weighed his options. It  _ would _ be good to get supplies. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Pidge took off without hesitation once more, and Shiro and Keith shared a smirk before they followed her at a brisk run. They arrived at the town’s edge, panting heavily, and were greeted by a pair of guards who inspected them with suspicion as they passed. An assortment of noises and smells poured forth from within and the three pushed into the thick crowd to look for a shop to stop inside.

“Pidge,” Shiro said urgently. She’d nearly disappeared a few times already, enveloped by an assortment of NPCs heaps taller than her. He reached forth a hand to clasp onto her shoulder. “Stay close.”

She pouted. “Put a leash on me.”

Keith snorted into his hand.

“Sadly out of leashes,” Shiro teased with a flick to Pidge’s ear. Keith once again raised his hand to stifle a snort, which turned into a fit of laughter muffled by his palm. Shiro raised an eyebrow to him in question, and looked to Pidge to see her shaking her head with her hands over her face. “What?”

“Nothing, Shiro,” Pidge said. She groped around for his cloak behind her without a look and took a handful of the fabric. “Come on.”

Confused, Shiro latched onto Keith’s elbow to drag him along as well.

“There, Pidge,” Keith pointed ahead toward an old wooden sign marked with a carving of a tankard. His voice was still laced with amusement, even minutes later. Pidge dragged Shiro by his cloak toward the tavern, and Shiro pulled Keith by his arm.

She let Shiro go to push the door open with both hands. An air of laughter, ale, and home-cooked food welcomed them. All three paused just inside the doorway to take in the sight and smells. Their stomachs growled.

“It… wouldn’t hurt to buy some food… right?” Pidge asked weakly. The boys whined a little in agreement.

Keith led their way toward the counter. Pidge climbed onto the only empty seat and Shiro stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, his staff rested against her back. Keith leaned across the counter to speak to the barkeep — he had to shout over the noise, and withdrew after a short exchange.

“He said to grab a table, and we’d be brought a menu,” Keith said as he leaned in close. Shiro and Pidge nodded, and they slid away to search for some empty seats.

Shiro steered Pidge by her shoulders toward the back where he’d spotted an empty table in the corner. Keith made a path through the crowd for them, and they’d nearly sat down when a voice called out, “KATIE!”

Pidge halted and looked around, only to see the backs and shoulders of travel-worn NPCs of every possible class and race. She looked to Shiro for help and raised her eyebrows when a grin broke across his face.

“Matt! Get over here, you asshole!”

Pidge stood on her toes and clutched Shiro’s shoulder for balance to try and see over the crowd. Her brother was standing up from his spot on a high stool, surrounded by a group of rough-looking NPCs. With a quick word to them, he made his way toward his friends.

“There’s my little sis,” Matt said as he scooped her up from the waist. He laughed as she grunted against his tight embrace, and her face deadpanned.

“You’ve been  _ drinking _ ,” she said accusationally when she smelled his breath. He set her on her feet to turn and share a hug with Shiro.

“Just one,” Matt said with a chuckle. He let Shiro go and turned to clasp Keith’s hand tightly, both pulling toward the other and slapping each other on the back.

“Come sit with us,” Shiro said as he excitedly pulled out a chair for Pidge. She plopped down and eyed her brother as he whispered something to Keith.

“Where’ve you guys been? What’ve you been up to?” Matt asked as he took the final seat. He leaned across the table and beamed at Shiro. “All going well?”

Pidge leaned away, startled, as the layered, scarf-like wrappings around Matt’s shoulders started to wiggle. He seemed unfazed as he listened to Keith talk about their recent fights. But Pidge reached a curious hand to poke at the movement and earned a squeak in return. She cried out in alarm, too, and Matt turned to her.

“What? Oh… Guys, this is Cheese.” Matt reached into his scarf with both hands and withdrew a small creature who protested against being removed from his bedding.

“Awwww,” Pidge cooed as she reached her hands out, fingers flexing. “He’s adorable.”

Matt handed Cheese to her. He was no larger than a few-months-old kitten, but was… a griffin? No, he lacked the front legs, and resembled a hawk more than an eagle. Small tufts of feathers adorned his speckled, brown head in the position of ears, and he had petite, folded wings. The fur beneath Pidge’s fingers was bristly but clean, and a bushy tail more like a chinchilla’s than a lion’s whipped nervously against the table. “Hiii, Cheese.”

Shiro grinned crookedly and reached to scratch Cheese’s back as Pidge let him onto the table. He nipped his small beak in Shiro’s direction before he scurried back to Matt’s shirt and hid once more in his wrappings.

“He’s been nervous since we came in here,” Matt said with an apologetic smile. “Too rowdy, I guess.”

“Are you a ranger?” Shiro asked. He remembered Allura’s summoning abilities when she chose to be the bow-wielding class. Matt shook his head.

“Druid. I woke up with Cheese next to me, so I figured he was the animal companion the class description told me about,” Matt said. He leaned back to allow a barmaid to drop a worn piece of parchment onto their table. “Thanks.”

He waited for her to retreat before asking if they had money. Pidge unhooked the pouch from her hip and plopped it onto the table with a smug look. Her brother shook his head with a chuckle.

“Got it.”

“So what’ve you been up to?” Shiro asked. He slid the menu toward Pidge so she could order first, but she screwed up her face as she tried to read the foreign text.

“Yesterday was a lot of traveling and looking for you guys and fighting,” Matt explained as he leaned toward his sister. He frowned at the menu. “Today was more of the same til I found this place and stopped to get some info.”

“Info?” Keith asked. He had his sword between his legs protectively as he leaned over the table, arms crossed. “What did you find out?”

“Apparently the village Coran talked about really was attacked.”

“Yeah, I woke up there. Barely two buildings are still standing,” Keith said.

Matt straightened in his seat. “There was a group of seven that attacked it. Rumor has it they were asking around for a group of adventurers. Said they owed them something, but the guys I was talking to made it sound like they just wanted a fight. Who knows. The bad guys were going door to door in town before finally just going berserk. They set buildings on fire, killed people… til the sun started coming up. Then they just left... or disappeared — there’s varying accounts.

“I wasn’t able to find anyone who’d actually  _ seen _ them, but from what I gathered, they were like ghosts. Dark, shadowy — you could only see detailed features if you got close enough, but you’d be lucky to get away.”

Shiro felt a shiver course through his body. Was this what they were up against?

“I’m gonna go get this translated,” Pidge grumbled as she slid out of her seat. She disappeared once more.

“But more of that later — what about you guys?” Matt asked as he reached a hand into his scarf to scratch Cheese. Shiro nodded to Keith to start, and he gave a brief account of the previous day, elaborating more on the fight that earned him his new blade. Shiro told of his and Pidge’s adventures next, and ended with meeting up with Keith just in time for Pidge to return.

“Okay, so standard — ale, water, stew, leg of some bird I can’t pronounce — probably like a turkey leg? Quiche, bread with cheese… let me know if you have questions,” she said as she slid the parchment to the center of the table. “Matt, did you eat?”

“Nah, I just weaseled a drink out of the guys,” Matt said with nod toward the table he’d previously been sitting at. Pidge rolled her eyes at her brother and looked up as their waitress returned.

“What can I get you, darlings?” she said in a husky voice. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked around the table. 

“An ale and quiche, please,” Pidge said as she looked up at the broad woman. Her bright green eyes crinkled at the edges in a smile. “Would it be possible to order things wrapped to go, as well?”

“Sure thing.”

“Enough bread and cheese for a party of seven, then, please,” Pidge added.

“Have you a bag?”

“Um… not really.”

“We can sell you a leather satchel for an additional fee,” the woman said. “Fifty copper.”

Pidge hurried to count the money in her coin pouch while the boys ordered their food. She came up a copper short, but Shiro handed her a few coins to supplement it. She thanked him and looked up to tell their waitress that she wanted to get the satchel. With a final nod, the woman left.

“Do I get to see drunk Pidge?” Keith asked teasingly. Pidge quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Have you even had liquor yet, sis?” Matt asked with a grin. She pouted.

“At some Voltron-thanking feast she has, I think,” Shiro said.

“You’re not even  _ old _ enough to drink,” Matt said. He poked her in the cheek. “You’re only twenty.”

Pidge swiped his hand away. “We’re not exactly in the US right now. I don’t give a damn.”

All three boys chuckled at her and she glared down at the wood grain of the table, flicking her copper pieces between her fingers.

“If you cover the satchel, I’ve got the rest,” Shiro said. “Plenty of silver.”

Pidge nodded without looking up and played with her coins while she listened to the boys talk about their situation. Shiro filled Keith and Matt in on their observations of the lack of rules and their mortality, and Matt added on his own experiences to further prove the theory. Their food arrived — Pidge and Keith got quiche and ale, Shiro some stew and water, and Matt the bird’s leg and some yak’s milk. They chatted about heading back to camp while they ate.

“Here’s your satchel and bread, darlin’,” the barmaid said as she set the full leather bag onto the table between Pidge and Matt. “Can I get you anything else?”

Pidge asked if there was a bathroom, and Matt hurriedly corrected to “privy.” Their barmaid directed Pidge to the back of the building, and Pidge excused herself.

“Downside of being  _ actually in  _ the game, I guess,” Keith said as he drained the last of his ale. “I’ll be right back, too.”

Keith slid from his seat and left his sword with Shiro, who once again inspected the blade with an impressed look. Matt snuck a large piece of meat under his scarf to feed Cheese. 

“So you were alone with Pidge for an entire day, huh,” Matt said as he gave his companion a second treat. He looked to Shiro and his mouth pulled back to one side in a curious grin. “Anything good happen?”

Shiro’s face flushed. It had been quite some time since Matt had so much as mentioned his crush on Pidge. In fact, it had probably not happened since Shiro first realized he even  _ had  _ feelings for his teammate — just a few weeks after returning to the Castle ship after being rescued.

“Um. We talked a little,” Shiro said quietly. He leaned Keith’s longblade against the side of the table. 

“About?”

“About… why she’s been mad at me,” Shiro said. Matt’s face fell.

“Well, that’s not fun. What did she say?”

“She said it was something I couldn’t control, and it wasn’t my fault but wouldn’t tell me  _ what  _ it was,” Shiro said. He picked at the nails on his left hand with his thumb, eyes cast downward. When he stole a look at Matt, it was to find his friend looking at him with pity. “You know what it is, don’t you?”

Matt sat back in his chair and reached his hand under his scarf to pet Cheese. “Nope, sorry, bro,” he said. Shiro frowned deeply. He could tell when Matt was lying. But similar to Pidge, Matt had a way to clearly say he wouldn’t budge without having to articulate it.

“She also found out about my nightmares,” Shiro said with a sigh. Matt looked into his eyes at that.

“Nightmares? Do you get PTSD nightmares about the Galra, too?”

“Y-yeah. You too?”

Matt nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I mean, not often. I’m sure yours are way worse. But I definitely get them. How’d she find out?”

“I was having a nightmare while she kept watch, I guess.” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck.

“What’d she say?”

Shiro wasn’t able to answer, as Pidge quickly slid back into her spot.

“Maybe it’s cause it’s a fantasy world built by an advanced alien race who even ten thousand years ago were more civilized than most, but there was both toilet paper  _ and a place to wash my hands  _ and to be honest I think I’m about to cry from being so thankful,” Pidge said when she returned. Shiro and Matt shared an amused look. “What’re you guys talking about? What’d who say?”

“The barmaid. She asked if you wanted more ale and I said no, sorry,” Shiro said quickly. He glanced at Matt, who shook his head, before looking back to Pidge and watching her once more count out her copper pieces.

“That’s fine. I probably shouldn’t get dehydrated,” Pidge said. “Before heading out, we need to find a shop. There may be waterskins or something that we can buy.”

“Good plan,” Shiro said. “We’ll go when Keith gets back.”

Their waitress returned, and Pidge offered the handful of copper while she asked what they owed for their meal. Shiro counted out silver for the rest, Keith returned, and they left.

“Point me in the right direction,” Pidge said as she adjusted her new satchel across her body. She looked up to the cloudy sky, hoping it wouldn’t rain, as Shiro guided her through the crowd.

They found a general store. Matt let Cheese onto the counter to play with the old shopkeeper’s granddaughter while they spread their trinkets onto the counter to get information about them.

Most were “junk” items that they sold for more copper and silver. The fangs they’d found, however, had special properties that could boost the bearer’s magic proficiency.

“Three silver and I’ll string them together for you,” the keep offered.

Pidge looked up to Shiro. “Do it.”

“I feel bad spending it on myself.”

“Shiro, you being better at magic will help  _ all _ of us,” she said as she reached into his pocket for the money. “Besides, half our loot is yours, and you deserve nice things.”

Matt grinned at Shiro when he looked to his friend helplessly. Pidge handed over the silver, and the deal was done. She leaned her elbows onto the counter and bounced on the balls of her feet while she waited for the shopkeeper to finish with Shiro’s necklace. Shiro moved away from the counter, though, to join Keith in the back of the shop, where he was checking out a rack of jewelry, all labeled with symbols depicting different elements.

“Wonder if they boost spells,” Keith said quietly when he sensed Shiro behind him. 

Curious, Shiro grabbed a ring with a yellow stone inset to it. He slipped it onto his finger, and turning toward the wall, he raised his staff and right hand. He concentrated on the magic coursing through him. Gradually, a ball of static formed before him. Keith gasped.

“Hey, hey,” Keith said as he marched back to the front counter and approached the child playing with Cheese. Cheese let out an annoyed squawk when his scratches were interrupted. “Those rings — what do they do?”

The child shrank back. In a small voice, she answered, “They grant the user new elemental powers.”

“What do you mean ‘new’?” Keith asked.

“Sorcerers have one base element,” she said with furrowed brows. “They have to use items or train to learn new elements.” When Shiro, Keith, Matt, and Pidge exchanged looks, she added, “You’re all really stupid, aren’t you?”

“Ha ha,” Keith said with a glare in her direction. “How much? And can he use more than one at once?”

“Five silver a piece. And I don’t know. Ask Grandpa,” she slid from her chair then and scurried into the back room where the shopkeeper was working. Pidge spun to look at Shiro with an excited grin.

“No, Pidge, I’m already getting a necklace.”

“I don’t care! We can afford it. Shiro, you could use all elements, it’d be so cool,” Pidge said as she ran toward him and clutched his left arm. “You could be the  _ Avatar.” _

Shiro snorted at her reference and shook her off so that he could remove the ring he’d tried on and place it back on the rack. “It’s fine. I’ll just learn it a different way.”

He returned to the front counter and Pidge responded with a despondent  _ harumph _ .

It was only a few moments more before the keep returned, a corded necklace with three fangs strung at the bottom hanging from his fingers. Shiro offered the silver in exchange for it and tied the necklace around his neck.

“How’s it feel?” Matt asked as he picked Cheese up and placed the creature on his head. Cheese chirped happily and flapped his wings at Shiro.

“Not any different, honestly,” Shiro said. “We’ll see how it is when we fight.”

Pidge leaned back over the counter and asked about waterskins. She dug into Shiro’s pocket for enough money to purchase seven of them and lifted her bag to the counter so they could be arranged next to the cloth-wrapped food.

They thanked the old man for his business and left. The streets outside had begun to empty and a light rain fell from the sky. Pidge held the satchel close to her body — she hoped it was waterproof.

“Let’s start making our way back,” Shiro suggested. The rest nodded, and he led the way toward the end of town they’d come in at.

By the time they reached the open field, it was raining pretty steadily. They broke into a run once out in the open. Pidge made it to the treeline first and stopped to catch her breath and check on the food. Satisfied that it was dry, she shook her head to rid her cat ears of water. The boys caught up and she wove through trees to look for her V-marks while they took a short break.

“Over here!” she called with a wave. They hurried to catch up, and they set out to follow the path back.

Pidge hung back with Matt while Shiro and Keith led. She asked her brother about his class – he had a rapier at his side, but otherwise used calls to summon more creatures to fight alongside him, and Cheese was a surprisingly vicious fighter.

“So you’re a Disney Princess,” Pidge said with a smirk as Matt bragged about how many crows he was able to call to his aid during his morning fight against some goblins.

Matt deflated. “Not fair, sis.”

“I’m glad I found you,” Pidge said. She kicked her feet through the grass and watched them as she walked. “I don’t like it when I don’t know you’re safe.”

Matt gave his sister a small smile. He inched closer so that he could put his arm around her shoulders, and Cheese scurried down his arm to nestle instead between Pidge’s ears. “I’m fine, Katie. I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. Rolo and Nyma really like when I’m around, though. Having more on their crew makes missions go so much faster.”

Pidge nodded in understanding. Cheese whimpered, turned in a few circles, and lay down more securely in her hair. “I like having you around too, you know,” she said. She lowered her voice even further. “And Shiro does, too.”

Matt pulled her closer to his side. “I know. I promise I’ll stay for longer this time. Mmk?”

Pidge hummed in confirmation. They walked on in silence and kept an eye on Shiro’s and Keith’s backs. No creatures popped out of the darkness, but rain still made its way through the trees to keep them cold and wet. The air became steadily more humid and a haze grew among the trees, making visibility worse. 

They passed the clearing that Shiro and Pidge had fought the first feathered serpent in, and Shiro looked back at Pidge to share a look. “ _ We’re close _ ,” it said. She gave him a small smile before reaching up to scratch at Cheese’s back. He’d decided her head was too small to perch on comfortably and instead lay his small head between her ears, his legs perched just inside the neck of her vest. His wings were draped loosely over her shoulders.

“This is a little weird,” Keith said as he dropped back a few steps to walk along Pidge’s other side. She looked up at him in question, but followed his nod to look at Shiro, who joined at Matt’s left shoulder.

Pidge frowned and looked down at her feet.  _ That’s _ what Keith meant. There hadn’t been a single time since just before the Kerberos mission that the four of them had been together.  _ Just _ the four of them. She tried to push back the sick feeling that tugged at her insides as she leaned into her brother’s side more. They had been inseparable, but now… they were  _ separate _ more often than not.

“What was that?” Shiro asked quietly. All four stopped, and Pidge reached a hand to her head to pet Cheese and let him know to stay quiet. Matt lifted his companion from her head and she twitched her ears as she strained to listen.

“I don’t hear anything,” she said as she leaned across Matt to look up into Shiro’s face. He furrowed his eyebrows and squinted through the haze.

“What did it sound like?” Keith whispered.

“Branches cracking,” Shiro said. Keith frowned and put his right hand onto the handle of his sword. He motioned for them to continue in a single file. Pidge led, her ears perked and alert, followed by Shiro, Matt, and Keith brought up the rear. With narrowed eyes, he scanned in every direction. Cheese took to the air at Matt’s command to inspect the area.

They were getting closer to camp — Shiro could feel it. But he could also feel the hair on the back of his neck standing up with the apprehension that  _ something _ was near. Pidge paused now and then to hold a hand up to the rest of the team while she closed her eyes and listened hard, only to wave them on again to continue. Her hesitancy did nothing to calm his nerves.

They stopped in their tracks when a crack of thunder echoed through the trees. A roar followed, and Shiro could see Pidge jump out of her skin in his peripheral vision as he searched hastily for the source of the cry. A metallic  _ shing _ behind him told him that Keith had drawn his sword, and Cheese came barrelling through the leaves overhead. He screeched before landing on Matt’s outstretched arm.

“An ogre,” Matt said after he shared a look with his familiar. Shiro looked back at Matt with knitted eyebrows and clutched his staff tightly. Pidge pressed against his side.

“Should we run or fight?” she asked with a glance between each of them.

“We’ll see how big it is first,” Keith said. He took a few more steps ahead. “And decide then.”

Matt followed after he whispered to Cheese, and Shiro looked down to Pidge. She cringed.

“What?”

“Footsteps — big,” she said. Her eyes met his as her ears twitched between each distant sound. Shiro bit his lip in apprehension.

He turned to follow Keith and Matt, and Pidge kept directly behind him. She reached behind for her daggers and twirled them in her hands, trying to decide which position was best to hold them in. 

They arrived at their camp, and as should be expected from the rain, the fire had gone out. There was no sign of Hunk, Allura, and Lance, though the sun was likely close to setting. It was hard to tell with the storm overhead. 

Keith scanned the area and Matt sent Cheese to the air again to search. Shiro was about to suggest searching for their friends before another loud roar echoed in their surroundings, this time a lot closer. A loud warcry followed.

“Allura,” Shiro said. He met Keith’s eyes and they both took off at a run in the direction they’d heard her voice. Pidge shouted at them and broke into a sprint to follow, Matt close on her heels.

She hurried to the lead and called behind that she would use her hearing to find the way. Her skin was littered with goosebumps from the chill of the rain and fright from the sound of the footsteps that grew nearer. She swore she could even feel the earth tremble beneath them. Swallowing hard, she clutched at the satchel on her hip to prevent it from bouncing against her so much as she ran.

A strum of a lute carried through the trees as Pidge pushed back into the forest.  _ Hunk _ . She wondered what type of spell he could be casting with his instrument. She leapt over a bush like a hurdle and heard the branches give as her party mates forced their way through. The footsteps were growing louder, and she could hear the clash of metal against flesh to join them.

“There!” Keith shouted as they came to the edge of the forest again. A meadow spread before them — the same one Pidge and Shiro had travelled through the day before. A flash of lightning illuminated the area, and they saw three figures surrounding the source of the roars and crashing footsteps. An ogre nearly the height of the Green Lion took a long, sweeping swing of his club, narrowly missing its targets. 

Keith sprinted ahead, Pidge and Matt followed, and Shiro took off last. Cheese swept past his ear with a drawn-out screech.

Pidge dropped her satchel to the grass as she neared. “Guys!” she called. Lance looked back to her at her shout and a relieved look washed over him. A smudge of blood adorned the left side of his forehead. 

Keith charged the ogre at the same time as Allura. Both landed leaping blows to its side and back and it let out another angered roar.

Shiro watched as Hunk pulled his lute around to the front of his body and hurriedly strummed out a tune again. He felt a warmth course through his body and paused at Hunk’s side when he swung the instrument to his back again, trading it for a new shortbow.

“That’ll give you about five minutes of increased attack power,” Hunk shouted. 

Shiro nodded in understanding and hurried to summon a fireball. To his surprise, the blaze formed much more quickly and the result was larger. He launched it at the ogre with a cry but missed by a foot. He ran past Matt to get out of the ogre’s field of vision and charge up another attack.

Matt had his arms stretched toward the stormy sky and his eyes glowed a bright white. He didn’t say a word, but after a few seconds, a dark cloud appeared on the horizon and grew steadily larger. Cheese swooped past his ear and dove at their foe, scratching at the ogre’s broad and meaty shoulders with long, thick claws.

In a moment, the cloud had approached. A swarm of bats followed Cheese’s command to swipe back and forth across the ogre’s body. They flew away to regroup and Cheese let out long screeches to command them.

“Pidge, we’ll get behind it and attack,” Lance yelled against the sound of increased rainfall. Pidge squinted through the stream of water running over her face and nodded. “Have you figured out the guided attack, yet?”

Pidge remembered fighting the serpentine creature with Shiro and Keith earlier, and the feeling she got when she’d finished it off — like falling, but in control.

“Kinda!”

“Choose a spot to attack and focus. You’ll be drawn in and land a decent strike.” Lance pushed some water from his eyes with an impatient palm. He twirled his sickle in his right hand. “You think you can get up its back near the neck? You’re decent at climbing.”

Pidge chewed her bottom lip for a second before she gave Lance a confident nod. He nodded back and gave her an encouraging grin before he turned to look at the ogre. Allura and Keith were at its heels, dodging its club while they tried to land attacks at its legs.

“I’ll try and go for its wrist and see if I can get it to drop its weapon,” Lance said. “Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“On three.”

Pidge focused her eyes best she could through the mist and rain. She found her target right at the base of its neck. She twirled her daggers in her hands once before gripping them tightly. 

“One.”

Shiro was using his flamethrower attack again.

“Two.”

A barrage of arrows came from Hunk, and one struck its target in the ogre’s face. It writhed and roared, and Allura landed a hit on its calf. It still stood upright, though. Pidge bent her knees and dug her bare toes into the muddy grass.

“Three!”

She and Lance took off. She had to sprint at an angle to get around to its back side, but she was fast. She could do it. Not once did she let her eyes off her target, and she relied on her friends to get out of her way as she ran if need be. She felt the wind from Cheese’s wings as he swooped in for another attack, and the heat from Shiro’s flamethrower.

She heard a yell from Lance and the ogre cried out — a hoarse scream more than a yell. A crash and a splash came next, and her heart leapt to her throat. Did Lance manage to make it drop its weapon?

A few more steps and she leapt. She used her momentum to scurry up the ogre’s back, not daring to take her eyes from her target at the base of its neck. One, two, three more steps, and Pidge swung her right arm with a scream. It made contact with thick flesh, and it took more effort than she’d expected to drag it through. Her left arm whipped around for a follow up attack as soon as the first dagger was freed, and she was ready to jump away when she felt a jerk at the back of her neck.

“Ahhh!” She was pulled into the air by the collar of her vest. Her dagger was left behind inside the ogre’s flesh, and the one still clutched in her right hand threatened to fly from her grasp as she was swung through the pouring rain. She heard her friends yelling below, but couldn’t make out words as the wind whipped across her ears. She grunted as she abruptly changed directions, and was suddenly let go, flying, limbs flailing, through the air.

“PIDGE!” Shiro’s voice screamed before she landed on the slick ground with a crack and a thud.

Everything went dark.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! I've been working really hard on this for a long time - longer than the actual writing-paragraphs part took, and I'm really excited to finally share it with the world. Please let me know what you think! :D  
> And a HUGE thanks to d0gbless for being an amazing beta!  
> Edit: I added some art! Sorry I didn't post it to begin with - I was antsy to get the chapter uploaded. Not every chapter will have art included, but many will!


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